Communication
by Emme2589
Summary: Everyone can only handle so much stress all at once, including WALL-E and EVE...
1. Chapter 1

EVE blinked in the dim area, looking for something to focus on.

 _"Do you see anything?"_ the captain said through her communicator.

 _No..._ she beeped in Binary, _I've been searching for awhile, but all I've found is more garbage._ Captain McCrea had asked her to retrieve a lost robot in the caverns below ground, but not only was it hard to see, if she didn't have an internal map programmed into her display, she would have certainly been hopelessly lost. Only the whirring of her own processor was stopping her from going completely mad.

That, and her beloved's voice over the communicator.

 _"Evah?"_ WALL-E asked in concern. He had wanted to go with her into the scary caves, but there's no way they could've stayed together the whole time without distracting her, so he resolved to talk to her over the chip in her ear. It was quite soothing to her.

"Wall-E..." EVE sighed, turning around another corridor. WALL-E didn't understand Binary, so the computer was translating her beeps into English so he could understand. Nevertheless, EVE felt better really speaking to him, and she thought he did too.

 _"Don't worry, Wall-E."_ The captain reassured, _"It's not Eve who's in danger, here."_ In response, WALL-E made a frustrated sound that made EVE giggle. He was always thinking about her. It was so sweet.

EVE turned yet another corner and hit a wall. She groaned in frustration.

"Whazza matter, Eve?" McCrea asked.

 _Another dead end._ She beeped, bringing up the map on her HUD, _It seems to go on forever. Are you sure he's lost in here?_

 _"That's the fifth time you've asked!"_ McCrea laughed, _"Don't worry, you'll find him someday."_

 _Someday isn't good enough!_ EVE turned another corner, scanning the walls for anything relevant, _I want out of here already! My eyes are getting tired!_

 _"You'll figure it out."_ he reassured, _"Unless of course you want to back out and let the other robot wander in these dim halls forever..."_

 _Ugh..._ EVE shook her head as she passed another corner, _No, of course not._ She gasped suddenly.

 _"Eve?"_

 _I thought I heard something..._ She heard WALL-E shiver, and so she said in English, "Wall-E...ok..."

EVE let her eyes drift around the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Something landed on her head and so she looked up, squinting in the intense darkness. Her eyes widened as a cry was heard and a little robot fell down. She caught him just in time.

"Evah!"

"M-O!" EVE cried out, rolling her eyes, _How dare you run off and get lost! Is this a game to you!?_

M-O cast his eyes downward in shame, "Sooorry..." _I'm sorry, Eve...I didn't mean to wander so far..._

"Ugh..."

 _"You found him?"_

 _Yeah. It was M-O. He strayed too far from the encampment area._

 _"Ah. Well, it happens, you'd better get back before-!"_

"Ack!" EVE had just enough time to dive over M-O to protect him before the ceiling collapsed on them, trapping them in the caverns.

* * *

REBOOT

EVE's bright blue eyes struggled to focus in the darkness. Something was trembling in her arms, and she felt scratches up her back. It took a moment for her anti-gravity systems to turn back on. She rose one arm to push giant rocks off her and M-O, who was still shaking in fear.

 _Eve?_ He beeped fearfully to her.

 _It's ok, we're ok._ EVE gave him a reassuring pat on the head, _Let's get out of here._

M-O nodded, jumping down onto the floor, _Which way? I've been stuck here for hours._

EVE checked her HUD, noticing that her communicator had been destroyed and her navigation system was offline. However, her map was still active. Grabbing M-O by the brush, she carefully hovered through the corridors, taking extra care to avoid loose rocks and cracks. M-O was still afraid. He hadn't been programmed with navigational systems, so he was putting his full trust in EVE to lead him out. Sometimes he would roll over a crack in the ground or something and jump with fright, but EVE never let go of him.

She squinted when she was suddenly swarmed with light. Once she confirmed that it was the sun she was looking at, she was able to let go of M-O.

 _You head back to the Axiom. They've been looking for you._ EVE beeped to him, _I have to go find Wall-E. He's probably worried about me._

M-O gave a firm nod before speeding away.

"Wall-E?" EVE hovered into WALL-E's truck, looking for his box form and yellow color. He wasn't there, but something else caught her eye. The things inside had all been rearranged. He only did that when he was missing her. She scaned over all his things with her eyes, his treasures that he had collected over the years. Most jarring was his tape of _Hello, Dolly!_ was on the floor, like it had been tossed aside. She scanned the ground frantically, trying to pick up a trace of him.

His tread marks were spread across the ground, heading off in a direction. EVE followed them, hoping to find him before something happened. He couldn't have wandered far, right?

"Waaall-EEE!" she called, "WALL-EEE!"

"Evah!?"

She gasped upon hearing him. He was down below on the path to a ruined New York City. He waved his hands, "Evah!"

"Wall-E!" she wrapped him up in an embrace, twirling around in the sky while shouting with glee. Oh how she had missed him!

"Eeevaaahhh..." WALL-E sighed.

EVE giggled as she set him back on the ground, "Home?"

He nodded.

EVE took his hand, and began to lead him steadily back home.


	2. Chapter 2

EVE watched from above, peering into the steadily-rising fog. She was apprehensive about being so far above the visible ground, but they were lost and didn't know any other course of action. She squinted her blue LED eyes through the misty air, but since it was already getting dark, it was very hard to see where they were in relation to anything, especially so far away from recolonization.

 _"Ev-ah!"_

EVE felt an eerie creepiness she couldn't quite place as she carefully hovered back downward. The second she got low enough, WALL-E clung to her arm, making it clear that he didn't like being alone, even for a moment. He tilted his head to show inquiry, but EVE shook her head. They had wandered too far.

WALL-E was concerned, but more important was EVE's reaction. It was pretty clear that she didn't know how to navigate through a thick fog without her navigational systems, at least not with an earth robot. With no other plan, EVE laced her white fingers into WALL-E's hand and blindly led him through the increasingly-foreboding fog.

EVE tried to keep her composure for WALL-E's sake, but inside she was growing nervous. She knew that exploring so far away would be a bad idea, but WALL-E was curious and easily distracted. She didn't even pay attention to their path before the fog hit.

And even though EVE appeared calm, WALL-E could tell that she really didn't know where they were going. Her hand felt tense in his, and though he couldn't clearly see her expression, her eyes reflected uncertainty, and he wasn't sure how to comfort her.

They stayed in this kind of uncomfortable silence until they finally found a place where the murky sky was visible. As expected, they were in an unfamiliar area. Out here, there were still piles of cubed garbage towering over the rest of the earth, casting tall, ominous shadows on the ground. Out this far, there were still many WALL-E robots that had fallen out of commission almost 700 years prior. It made EVE feel very uneasy.

EVE flew upward to gaze across the horizon. If she could get high enough, maybe she could see where they were. No such luck. It was simply too dark.

EVE hovered near WALL-E until he stopped shaking, during which time he made a series of panicked beeps and squeaks. EVE wasn't surprised. Even during all his time alone, he never stayed out after dark. There had been no light outside his truck, and navigating isn't exactly easy in complete darkness. Still, EVE turned his head in her direction and tapped under her eyes. They would glow in the dark. He didn't need to be afraid.

He was still skiddish late into the night, and EVE was at a complete loss. They didn't know where they were, and the only light they had were EVE's eyes and the light of WALL-E's solar power display. She refused to stay in one place, however. EVE gripped WALL-E's hand as she tried to find any kind of recognizable landmark. After all, she had explored the Earth before. Surly she would find _something_ recognizable among all this trash. Finally, she spotted something that triggered familiarity. It was an old, rusty shopping cart.

Not long ago, EVE had been deployed to Earth to search for plant life. What she came across instead was a small garbage-compacting robot. She ignored it, but it continuously watched from a distance, an odd light in its binocular-shaped eyes. This was the old abandoned supermarket where WALL-E was crushed against the automatic doors when they didn't open right away. She smiled at the memory.

Now that they had a place to pinpoint, EVE did a quick search through her internal map. She sighed in relief. The abandoned supermarket was only a few miles away from recolonization. They had somehow traveled in a wide circle. With new confidence, EVE steered WALL-E off into another direction. However, as she spun around, WALL-E's hand slipped out of hers. Panicking, WALL-E stopped and frantically looked around for her, keeping watch for her eyes.

"Ev-ah?"

EVE stopped, "Wall-E!?" her eyes darted around her, "Wall-E!"

She couldn't believe she let that happen. Now they were separated in the intense darkness. She kept calling his name, trying to retrace where she had just been, and waiting for WALL-E to call "Ev-ah!", but either WALL-E was too afraid to respond, or she was too far away to hear him...or she was too far for him to hear her.

As she hovered near the ground, something hit across where her neck would be, cutting off her anti-gravity for a split second. She turned around. A scrap of metal was jutting out of a large metal wall. Curious, EVE flew upwards, tracing the height of the wall with one white hand. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't a wall. It was the Axiom.

 _"Ev-ah!"_

She started, "Wall-E!?" the spaceship forgotten, she darted in the direction of the desperate call. Finally, her eyes found what she was looking for.

"Wall-E!" Eve wrapped her arms around WALL-E, then felt him go stiff. She backed away slightly, "Wall-E?"

He looked oddly distant, like he had lost what he was thinking about. EVE looked into his eyes, "Wall-E?" he didn't react as she tilted his face towards herself.

The curious light in his eyes wasn't there.

EVE's eyes widened in alarm, backing up again and reverting to her native programming language, _Who are you?_

The WALL-E that wasn't her WALL-E tilted his head in an odd way. It put EVE on edge.

"Ev-ah!"

EVE's head darted around, searching for her WALL-E. Her eyes fell on another WALL-E rushing towards her as he embraced her, clearly shaken.

"Wall-E!" EVE narrowed her eyes at the other WALL-E, eerily still and silent. Watching.

EVE carefully steered WALL-E away from the impostor, not taking her blue eyes off him until he was well out of sight, which didn't take long because it was still pitch-black.

"Ev-ah..." WALL-E whimpered.

"Sorry, Wall-E..." EVE apologized sincerely, gently stroking his wrist.

WALL-E leaned closer to her. She knew he was trying to say, _Just don't leave me again._

From that moment, EVE clung to WALL-E's forearm with both hands, fearing they'd once again be separated. At last, after many hours of wandering aimlessly, they found a way out of the fog and into the city.


	3. Chapter 3

"Huh?" Captain McCrea cocked his head to the side, "What did you find?"

EVE was trying to explain what they had seen, using Binary to communicate, which was being translated by the nearby computer, _It was another WALL-E unit, but it wasn't behaving as it should._ She explained, still very flustered from the encounter, _It moved in such an odd way, I don't know how to describe it!_

"And it was mostly still?"

"Yes!" she switched to English, not sure how else to express herself, "Still. Silent. Watching."

"Hmmm...that is weird..." McCrea furrowed his brow, "Why would a WALL-E behave that way? It's just so..."

 _Unnatural..._ EVE beeped, _He wasn't alive, but he wasn't programmed either...it was like he was..._

 _Dead?_

EVE didn't notice M-O come into the room. His golden eyes were curved downward in a sad frown, _I saw one like that, too._

"What?" McCrea looked between EVE and M-O, "What do you mean?"

 _In the caves._ the small cleaning-bot explained, _I didn't even recognize him at first because he was so static. I got closer to him and nudged him, calling his name, but all he did in response was look at me oddly, moving like he was unfeeling, unliving..._

He began to shake uncontrollably, his head pushing down on his body in nervousness.

EVE's eyes pressed downward in a calculative frown. What did that mean? WALL-E's were never programmed to act in such a way. Sure, WALL-E himself was static when EVE first repaired him, but he was simple at that time, programmed to cube garbage. That was it. He seemed just like a robot. Mechanical and static. But, not still and quiet. Not unmoving, not even dead. Just...

EVE felt gentle tugging on her arm. She hadn't noticed when WALL-E took her hand. He looked worried.

"Evah...?"

"Wall-E..." EVE stroked the side of his head with her free hand. His eyes were so full of life. The way he moved and spoke, the way he looked at her. He was...

He was...almost human...

"Wall-E..." EVE pressed her screen against his optics, _What should we do?_

WALL-E closed his eyes, letting EVE's presence soothe him.

He didn't understand. He didn't know what she was upset about, but the fact that she was upset at all was enough to bring his mood down. What could he do?

EVE began to hear a soft tune. It was familiar, the melody of _It only takes a moment_ , but it was different somehow.

"Wall-E..." EVE staggered back a bit. He was humming the melody. Their song. The one that brought them together and let them fall in love.

EVE giggled, _I think I know what to do!_ she beeped, keeping one hand entwined with WALL-E's, _I'll oversee a group of robots to keep an eye out for these defective WALL-E bots. In the meantime, make sure to be wary if you see a static WALL-E. We still don't know much about them, or why they're so unnerving._

"Got it! Ok, everyone! Back to work!" McCrea told everyone, "I'll expect a report by the end of the week, Eve!"

 _Of course, Captain._ And with that, EVE saluted and steered away, WALL-E close behind.

"Evah!"

"Hm?" EVE felt him tugging on her hand, "Wall-E?"

"Evah!" he tugged her hand again, pointing in another direction.

EVE let one of her eyes press downward.

"Evah!" he kept trying to pull her away, so she did as she was told, following him a short ways away until they were alone.

WALL-E smiled, somewhat sadly, "Help?"

"Hm?"

He gently pulled her closer, letting her screen clank against his. She couldn't help but feel concerned, "Wall-E?"

He didn't say anything else. He just stayed like that. His eyes were closed, he was still, and he looked peaceful. It somewhat worried EVE, just because he wasn't normally so quiet and still. It was almost...unnerving...

"Wall-E...?" EVE pulled back a little bit, trying to read her sweetheart's expression. He stayed like this a moment longer, and then he turned around and left.

 _Hang on!_ EVE wrapped her arms around him, "Wall-E..."

He just held still, and stayed quiet. Again, no sudden moves.

EVE shook her head in disbelief, hovering in front of WALL-E and holding his eyes to her face. She felt her eyes curve downward sadly. He was sad. The last time WALL-E was truly sad was when he thought she was dead, so it was more than a little scary to see him so downcast. There was really nothing else in his expression. He was just...

"Evah..." he clinked his head against hers.

"Sh..." EVE ran her thumb over the side of his eye in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. WALL-E sighed at the gentle touch.

"Wrong?" EVE asked, adding in Binary, _What's wrong?_

He gave a subtle shake of the head.

"Here..." EVE took WALL-E's hand, stroking it softly, "Eve...here..."

WALL-E nodded, carefully wheeling past her down the corridor. EVE wanted to keep reaching out to him, but it was clear that he didn't want to talk. Maybe he would feel up to it later.

In the meantime, EVE had a new directive.


	4. Chapter 4

_I have nothing new to report. Each WALL-E was static and expressionless, just as before, but I still can't figure out why their presence is so unnerving._

EVE was relaying the results of her search to the captain, who listened patiently with growing unease. Once the computer's translation was complete, McCrea stayed silent some time longer, deep in thought. Finally, he sat down in his hoverchair, one hand on his chin, "Are you sure?"

EVE was perplexed, _Yes I'm sure! What do you mean, "Am I sure?" Of course I am!_

"I don't mean to suggest you're lying to me, but have you noticed the specifics of their behavior?"

"Huh?" EVE narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, "Elaborate."

"Well, they don't seem dead at all. To me, it's almost like they're the exact opposite." McCrea tried to explain, "Think about it this way. Have you ever felt like you were being watched?"

EVE shook her head quizzically.

"I did some research the other day, and sometimes, say in horror movies or books, 'terror' is used to generate fear. It's when you're afraid of something that isn't there, constantly paranoid, always feeling like something _is_ there, but when you turn around, there was nothing there in the first place."

As the captain spoke, EVE listened with an odd, creeping sense of anxiety. She had once heard that humans could tell if they were being stared at. Was this something similar? EVE believed that paranoia was stupid, but what if they couldn't help it? What if some humans were just afraid of something that might show up when you least expect it? Was that smart? A survival mechanism for ancient humans?

Wait...

"WALL-E..." EVE spoke softly, "...aware?"

"Yes. It doesn't feel like the defective WALL-E's are dead." McCrea said, "It feels like they're alive."

 _Like they're consciously aware of every little thing you do..._ EVE gasped in realization.

"Exactly."

EVE blinked. So that was it? _But if they're alive..._

"Then we need to be wary of them." McCrea finished, jumping down from his chair to face the computer, "Something tells me all the defective WALL-E's coming to life was no coincidence either. Someone turned them all on..." he trailed off as he thought.

EVE realized something just then. She hovered to the captain's side and pointed to herself, "Wall-E?"

"Hm? Oh, I don't think your WALL-E will be affected by this." McCrea replied, "Uh...just in case, you should keep and eye on him, alright?"

EVE nodded, stealing a glance at the screen he was looking at.

"Right. You're dismissed."

EVE saluted before dashing down the hall, emerging over the still brown Earth, though grass was growing, and she caught drifts of cotton flowing in the breeze.

She pulled the lever on their truck to open the door, "Wall-E?" drifting inside, she saw that the tv had been left on, and it was paused on the part where the two people hold hands.

 _Where could he be?_ "Wall-E!" EVE scanned the shelves for anything that could clue her in on his whereabouts. It wasn't straightforward this time, however. She really found nothing that even gave her a hint. Frustrated, she scanned through every shelf he had, searching through every tiny thing.

A call came through her ear, showing on her HUD, but she cancelled it, not even checking who it was.

Again and again, she searched everywhere through the truck, and everywhere around it in a wide circle, 10 feet, 70 feet, 100 feet...

Again, the call came, she disconnected it.

The sun was all the way down, and still, no trace of WALL-E anywhere.

EVE felt static across her screen. What happened to you? Where have you gone?

* * *

EVE had her face buried in her arms, resting on the shelf by all of WALL-E's lighters. Each of them had a BnL logo carved into them, dirt smeared on their surfaces. She looked up at them, her pale white fingers caressing over them. She lit one and stared at the flame.

She ached inside.

Finally, the call came again and she decided to answer it. It was from the captain.

 _"Eve. You're needed on the Lido Deck."_

Eve was quiet, giving a slight beep of acknowledgement.

 _"Hey...are you ok?"_

EVE sighed, _I'm fine. I'll be there soon._ She ended the call and flew off.

"Ok, Eve...we've made some progress on the defective WALL-E's. It turns out that they all go back to the same place after being out for awhile, and..."

EVE was only half listening. She was so lost in her own thoughts and memories that she could feel her eyes curving down. She couldn't help it.

"...something happening here. Something that...Eve?" McCrea snapped his fingers, "You listening?"

EVE snapped back to reality, _What!?_

"Eve, what's the matter? Are you going to tell me?"

EVE tried to hide what she was feeling, but she couldn't hold the act for long. She buried her face in her hands, shaking, _I can't find WALL-E!_

"Really?" McCrea knelt down, "What happened? I tried to call you three times..."

 _I'm so sorry, I know, I ignored captain's orders, and that's against protocol. I was trying to find WALL-E, but there were no traces of him. I can't find him anywhere...I'm sorry for breaking protocol..._ EVE nearly cried, _...I offer no excuses..._

"Whoa! Eve!" McCrea gave a slight laugh, "Who do you think I am!? If you think I'm gonna punish you for that, you're mistaken, ok? Calm down..."

EVE could only see her own fingers, the slight blue glow around them from her eyes. She hated it. She hated the color blue. She wanted to see yellow. She wanted the yellow of WALL-E's paint. She was worried about him.

"Eve?" McCrea exhaled slowly, "I want to talk to you. Not as your captain, but as a friend, ok?"

EVE couldn't look at him.

"Eve?" he cupped his hands around his mouth, "All hands on deck!"

Every robot nearby dropped what they were doing and swarmed the captain, saluting with any such appendages they possessed. They then held still, awaiting instructions.

"I want everyone to search the Axiom for Wall-E. Eve's Wall-E. Get Stewards to help out if needed. Once every inch of this ship is searched, come back with him, or anything we could use to find him. Remember, Normal protocol applies as well. Don't come back until this task is complete, got it?"

Every head nodded, and then the Lido Deck was empty, except for the captain and EVE.

He shot her a smile, tipping his captain's hat, "Lemme know if you need anything else, got it?"

EVE hesitated for one moment before giving the captain a big hug.

"Heh...you're welcome..."

"Oh!" EVE jumped back, _You wanted to tell me something?_

"Hm? Oh! Right!" McCrea crossed his arms, "I have an update on the defective WALL-E's."

EVE gave a slight nod, _I'm listening._

"Well, I figured out where they report to. This happens all at different times, but all of them go back to the same place."

EVE's eyes widened, her curiosity piqued, "Where?"

He tilted his head, "I'll show you..."


	5. Chapter 5

EVE's hands nervously clenched into fists as she hid behind a boulder. The captain had showed her where to look, saying he needed to stay behind in case new information was unearthed about WALL-E. Her WALL-E. She was happy to oblige, saluting to her captain before heading off. Now, she lay still, her circuitry whirring and pulsating loudly in her auditory processors. She forced herself to stay still.

Finally, she bolted out and hid again closer. She couldn't risk getting caught. Her sensors were already telling her that cameras and microphones were set up all over the place, and one wrong move could expose her to whoever was behind this. No. Stay still. Stay quiet.

In her hyper-sensitized hearing, she caught a familiar sound. She turned slightly, squinting in the dusty darkness (it had to be around 2 am). There was a defective WALL-E, rolling up to the broken down back entrance to the Axiom. EVE recognized that this was the same place she and her WALL-E had gotten lost just two days before. A couple cameras swiveled to follow the WALL-E inside. EVE tried to focus on him, knowing that there was no way she'd get inside undetected. Still, there had to be a way to get a better view.

Scanning the landscape with her eyes, carefully, calculativly, she finally found something interesting. If she moved quickly, in a very specific way, she could slip through without being spotted. She had to be fast, though.

 _Up, down, over, under..._ she went through the pattern in her head again and again, _Up, down, over, under...Up, down, over, under...Up, down, over, under..._

 _Almost..._

Finally, she tucked her arms down and streaked across the area. She went up, down, over, and-!

She quickly swerved to avoid being spotted, pinning herself to the side of the Axiom. _I'm screwed..._

She had miscalculated.

She stayed there, her internal fan working in overdrive to keep her cool. She was sure that even if the cameras miraculously missed her, the loud fan would give her away.

Nothing.

EVE opened her eyes. She had miscalculated, but somehow found herself right at the door. It was now beginning to close. Quickly, she jumped through it before it was too late, just making it through before the doors clicked shut. EVE held her breath, looking around for more cameras. She dodged to the side just as a camera swiveled in her direction. She scooted along the wall, looking for the defective WALL-E she had seen before.

Her eyes fell on it, across the dimly lit room. He had rolled up to a small computer, which was now scanning over him. Once the scan was complete, the WALL-E turned around and left.

EVE decided to push her luck. If this would help her, then maybe the risk was worth it. She approached the computer carefully, afraid it was just programmed to scan whatever was in front of it. She peeked at the screen on the machine;

PASSWORD: _ _ _ _

She sighed with relief, hovering a bit higher so she was at eye-level with it. Password...

That was easy. Each combination would simply need to be evaluated and processed. She could do that. After all, she was a robot.

So she began, randomly decoding and weaving through each code, both on the screen and in her mind. This process usually took several hours, but she was surprised when she found the password much sooner than that.

PASSWORD: 2_ 8_ 0_ 5_

 _It's too easy..._ EVE thought as her finger hovered over the enter key. She didn't like the foreboding feeling she was getting from that. It had taken her a mere 40 seconds to decode the entrance key, and that didn't sit well with her at all.

 _It's almost like someone_ wants _me to hack this terminal..._

She almost turned tail and left right then...but if she did, she would have no more information than what she came with. They would simply be back where they started.

She didn't come all the way through here to just leave.

Taking a deep simulated breath to calm her nerves, she pressed down on the enter key.

 _"Evah!"_

EVE gasped out loud, swiveling her head back and forth, "Wall-E!?"

Her head was suddenly stuck, like it was in a vortex pulling hard on her mind. All her memories of WALL-E were being stolen!

"NO!" EVE panicked, pushing against the force that was trying to steal her with her arms, "Cancel memory drive! Override! OVERRIDE!"

She slowly forgot, one by one, starting with her most recent memory of WALL-E, and working through her brain to the oldest. Soon, she wouldn't remember him, she wouldn't remember his soft eyes and clawed hands, she would forget his sunny personality...

She would forget his name...

"No...no..." EVE gripped her mind in a desperate struggle, tugging, fighting back. She would never forget him. Never in a million billion years. She reached out to the WALL-E in her memory, holding onto his image and using it to fuel her strength and determination. She refused to let the machine take everything from her.

"Wall-E..."

As soon as she gained a fragment of a memory, she would copy it and store it away in the deep recesses of her brain. She would have to resort all those later, but for now, it was a matter of constant, copy and paste...copy and paste...copy and paste...

 ** _Directive..._**

Finally, the machine's scan was complete, and EVE was forced to shut down out of exhaustion.

She didn't lose a single memory.

However, her head was now scrambled.


	6. Chapter 6

_"And that is all...that love's about...and we'll recall...when time runs out..._  
 _that it only...took a moment...to be loved..._  
 _A whole life...long..."_

WALL-E sighed as he listened to the music on his recorder. He was trying to calm his nerves, but it didn't help much, especially considering how he had to leave his love like that. He tried not to think about where he was, but it was hard to stop. EVE was always on his mind. Constantly in the background of all his other thoughts.

He missed her...

He glanced upward at where he was. He knew it had to be someplace on the Axiom, but he had no idea where specifically. The walls were white, but they were covered in rust and grease. They were made of metal, he could tell, but he didn't know if it was painted or stained. Tall iron bars trapped him on one side of the room, and a singular light bulb hung from a string on the ceiling.

He didn't remember coming here, but he definitely wanted out. He was powerless however, as he had already tried to use his laser against the iron bars and the walls around him, but his laser was locked. Trying to use it just gave him a massive headache, so he had to stop. He heard a soft chirping sound, and he saw Hal climb up one tread, settling on his shoulder.

What would he do? There's no way he could get out the way Hal got in, and he was worried that EVE was upset at the way he was taken from her. He wanted nothing more than to see her again. He wanted to hold her hand. That always lifted his spirits.

If only...

And then, he got an idea.

* * *

REBOOT

EVE blinked in the darkness. Her head was pounding, and her hearing was full of static and odd beeping sounds. All of her memories had been thrown around in her head.

"Ugh..." EVE pulled her arms out of their sockets and felt around, searching for the ground as her motor systems were offline. She finally hit something by her right side, and so she turned and pushed against it, rolling again. Her mind sloshed around in her head, making her feel sick and disoriented. She tried to calm herself.

 _Ow..._

Keep it together, Eve...

She turned her head to the side and felt scratching against her head. She used this to help herself find the ground, pressing against it to prop herself upright. She opened her eyes against the bright sunlight. From the looks of it, she had been deposited just outside the Axiom, near one of the doorways.

She took a moment to try and sort through her memories. She recalled meeting WALL-E after the Axiom landed, but she also remembered first kissing WALL-E before she ever met the cockroach, Hal. She tried to send WALL-E out into space after the pod exploded, but also all before WALL-E was crushed under the holo detector. She knew that couldn't possibly be right, but that was how she remembered it.

She was confused to be sure.

She received a call just then, from the captain.

 _"Eve? What's going on?"_

 _Ugh..._ EVE shook her head, _It's a long story..._

 _"Ok...well, I need you back at the Axiom."_

EVE lay her head back down on the ground, _"I'll be there soon..._

 _"Are you alright, Eve? You sound kind of run-down..."_

EVE's eyelids flattened, _Thanks..._

McCrea laughed, _"I didn't mean it like that! Hey, where are you?"_

 _Um..._ EVE checked for landmarks around her, _I'm outside the Axiom. Right side, I think._

 _"Ok, wait there..."_

* * *

EVE saluted tiredly, "Wall-E?"

McCrea sighed, "Well...I'm sorry, Eve. He's nowhere to be found on the Axiom."

WALL-E... "No..."

"Look, Eve...We'll try to keep looking, alright? In the meantime, you should rest. You've been through a lot, after all."

"B-but...Wall-E..."

"We've done all we can." McCrea lay one hand on her shoulder, "It's alright, Eve. We'll find him."

EVE clenched her hands into tight fists, feeling the metal grind against itself dangerously.

 _My memories of him were almost stolen..._

The captain was taken aback, "What?"

EVE felt her insides grow white-hot with frustration, _He was almost taken from me...it took everything I had to hold onto him, and now everything I know about WALL-E has been scrambled..._

McCrea wasn't sure how to respond at first, "Listen, Eve, I feel like you're-!"

"I'm what!? Overreacting!? Over-analyzing!?" she snapped.

There was one tense second when McCrea was dumbstruck, not just because she screamed at him, but also because she was speaking perfect English! All robots that were around at that time stopped to stare. EVE was right up in the captain's face, looking at him like he was the scum of the Earth. She was absolutely livid.

"I've nearly lost him enough times! I fell in love just to watch Wall-E get crushed! I looked into his eyes and saw nothing! He came back to life! Still nothing! I thought I would never get to hear his voice again! I thought that light in his eyes would never come back! I thought that...that..." she broke down into intense sobbing, shaking violently. Her head dropped into the captain's shoulder, her arms encircling him, feeling sick and tired of WALL-E being gone, frustrated that her memories of him were unorganized. Something heavy weighed down on her, and she wasn't strong enough to lift it off.

McCrea still found himself unable to do anything at first, but he returned her hug carefully, gently.

Another long moment...everyone held still, anxious, awaiting...

Finally, the captain spoke, very softly, "I'm sorry, Eve..."

EVE felt her tight fists steadily relax.

"I really am..."

"N-no..." EVE pulled away, one fist over her face, "I'm sorry...none of this was your fault...I shouldn't have snapped at you..."

"Uh, Eve...when did you learn to speak English so well?"

"I've always been able to, it just takes a lot of ram to keep up. I'm actually programmed with many different languages, mostly just the word 'directive', but yes, I can speak..."

McCrea nodded as she trailed off, "Uh...so why don't you?"

EVE let herself smile, "Because it isn't necessary..."

He cocked his head, "Huh?"

She decided to switch back to code, _Allow me to demonstrate..._ She then pointed to herself and then down the hall, towards one of the doors.

"Uhhh...you were out there?"

She pointed downward, then spun her hand in the shape of a circle.

"Oh, on Earth."

EVE nodded. Then she moved her hands in the shape of a box, bringing both hands to the side of her face.

"You fell for Wall-E."

Another nod. She held one hand in front of her and cranked the other like she was working on a machine.

"You fixed him."

EVE smiled, then she laced her fingers in front of her, staring at them sadly.

"Oh..." the captain gave a slight nod, "You held his hand..."

EVE continued to look at her hands, _You see? Words are not needed..._ she slowly let her hands drop to her sides, _WALL-E taught me that..._

"We'll find him." The captain reassured.

EVE hugged herself, averting her eyes, _I'm sorry I broke protocol again..._

McCrea smiled warmly, "Don't you even worry about it, Eve." he extended a hand, "Let's just find Wall-E."

EVE returned his smile, taking it and gently squeezing it, "Thank you..."

"Eeevah!"

All heads turned to find a very excited-looking M-O, carrying an equally-excited Hal on his head. EVE was beside them in a second.

"Evah!" M-O let Hal crawl around on his brush as he jumped up and down, then he scurried onto the ground, again turning and jumping in the air. M-O gestured with his head, taking EVE's hand and attempting to steer her off.

Could they be...?

EVE eagerly followed the loyal cockroach and speedy cleaning-bot.


	7. Chapter 7

WALL-E waited patiently, tapping his fingers together in nervousness. He wondered if Hal misunderstood him, or if he couldn't find EVE, but he forced those doubts into the back of his mind. He knew Hal would deliver the message, and he knew that once EVE got it, she'd be here in a heartbeat. He just had to calm his crippling loneliness until she got here.

How had he lived like this for so long?

"Wall-E!"

His heart leaped. There she was. Sleek and white and beautiful. She was flawless in his innocent eyes.

"Evah!"

"Wall-E!" EVE hurried to his cage searching for something on the bars. She was accompanied by M-O and Hal, both happy to see WALL-E once again. EVE huffed in frustration, banging her head on the iron cage.

"Evah?"

EVE got an idea just then. She hurried to one side of the cage and reached her arm inside, pointing to the ground, "Wall-E!"

He got the hint, hurrying to that side. What was she going to do?

EVE quickly unsheathed her ion cannon and shot the opposite end of the cage. The bars blew open, so EVE jumped inside to retrieve her sweetheart, fleeing as soon as she had him.

He had her back-!

* * *

"Ugh..." WALL-E's cameras struggled to focus in the darkness. The room he was in was so familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen it before. Something loomed ominously in the shadows, but WALL-E sensed something there that sent shivers down his metal frame.

A single red light.

"Ow..."

WALL-E spun his head around, "Evah!?" she was lying on the ground, her head stuck to her body, both arms on either side of her, with her palms facing down. She almost looked defective.

"Evah!" WALL-E spun her in his direction. Her eyes were sad.

"Wall-E..." EVE's eyes widened in surprise, then anger at what she saw behind him.

 _You..._

The shadow crept closer. EVE fearfully clung to WALL-E, seeing in her HUD that her laser cannon was offline. She had to get out of here, and there was no way in Oblivion she was leaving without WALL-E.

"Evah..." WALL-E took her hand...then he stood and grabbed her, filled with renewed purpose. He didn't care how heavy she was.

"Wall-E..." EVE held onto him for dear life, "Go! RUN!"

He bolted.

Several stasis beams popped out of walls and floors and ceilings. Lasers shot out of turrets, trying to trap them, but WALL-E didn't slow down. He wasn't intimidated by anything around him. He knew that if he choked and slipped up, EVE would be put in danger.

He wouldn't have that.

Finally, he found the elevator. WALL-E sprung to it, knowing it was a way out, but the doors slammed shut, cutting off all access.

"Enough."

WALL-E shivered, but he didn't let himself waver. He spun around to face the evil.

He hoped he looked braver than he felt...

There he was. The wheel that had caused all the heartache. All the damage in the past week was his fault.

It was the Autopilot of the Axiom.

AUTO.

WALL-E could feel himself shaking while he searched for a way out. The elevator was now locked, and that was the only exit. All he could do was hope AUTO didn't move too quickly, or think faster than him.

Finally, WALL-E looked right at the dreaded white wheel.

AUTO didn't say anything for a time, but once WALL-E looked at him, he stared with equal intensity.

"Here we are again." AUTO finally said, no emotion in his computerized voice, "My directive was violated."

WALL-E couldn't keep looking into that bright red camera, so instead, he kept trying to search for an exit.

"It was your fault."

AUTO brandished his taser, ready to advance forward and end it all-!

Suddenly, someone was between them.

EVE had seen what was going on and worked up enough strength to hover upward, raising her arms to either side. WALL-E didn't see this, but her eyes were narrowed angrily, glowing bright like AUTO's eye. She refused to move. Her laser cannon was offline, but that didn't mean she would sit back and watch WALL-E die to AUTO.

She could feel burning hatred slither back through her mind. It blinded her.

 _You won't get him this time..._

"Evah!" WALL-E tugged on her arm, fear climbing up his neck, but she wouldn't budge.

AUTO moved forward, ready to kill.

EVE took the blow.


	8. Chapter 8

She was electrocuted, right in her heart.

"EVE!" WALL-E watched in horror, trying to get EVE away from the giant sparks of electricity sparking high into the air, but he was always thrown back. EVE held her ground.

As long as WALL-E was there, she wouldn't dare move.

Finally, AUTO pulled away, his taser having short-circuited. EVE had used her own power core to break his only line of defense. With that done, EVE couldn't move anymore. She fell to the ground, completely drained of all her energy.

WALL-E was frozen.

"No." AUTO tried to reactivate his taser, but it was no use. It was broken.

WALL-E finally got an idea. The elevator wouldn't open anymore, but there was still a way out.

Well, it was better than staying here with that stupid steering wheel.

Without thinking too hard about it, WALL-E grabbed EVE and jumped out the window.

Meanwhile, the captain heard the shattering of glass and looked up, seeing two familiar robots falling towards him.

"AHHH! ALL HANDS ON DEEECK!"

Every robot around that could fly went high in the air and carried WALL-E and EVE safely to the ground while everyone else shielded their faces from the raining of broken glass.

WALL-E was sobbing, pressing his optics against EVE's blank screen.

McCrea carefully knelt by all the sad robots, "What happened?"

WALL-E shook his head, tightening his grip around his girlfriend's shoulders. He didn't even notice how dark it was in the room, or when AUTO appeared on the sky of the Lido Deck.

"All power on the Axiom is terminated." he said, "I must follow my directive."

And just like that, all was quiet but the hum of nervous robots.

"Ooooohhh boy..." McCrea massaged his forehead, "And here I thought I'd never have to hear that dreaded voice again..."

WALL-E still didn't pay any attention. He was too devastated.

After another very long and tense few minutes, McCrea took his hat off, "Well, this is bad. Now none of the broken robots will be able to get fixed..."

WALL-E shivered. _Don't remind me..._

"Darling..."

WALL-E finally looked up after his shoulder was tapped. It was the beautician-bot, PR-T. She was pointing to EVE's screen. WALL-E gasped out loud seeing EVE's eyes were lit, flickering sadly, and staring at him affectionately. Seeing him cry was like a punch straight to the gut for her.

She didn't even have the strength to lift her arms. She knew that just a gentle touch to the head would calm him, but it was a struggle to just keep her eyes open.

She knew his fear. He would lose her, just as she nearly lost him.

WALL-E realized that it wasn't too late just then, so he tried to steady his processor enough so he could think. Grabbing the door to EVE's access panel, he carefully pulled it back. He frowned, a soft gasp escaping his speakers. Her heart had been shattered. It was one smooth piece with a light in the middle before, but now that light was cracked, and the whole thing was now broken into four separate shards.

Surrounding robots along with the captain had widened their eyes in shock, while PR-T replied, "Oh my..."

"Ok...this isn't a big deal. We can fix her, right?"

A nearby repair-bot shook their frame, his blue eyes lowering in a soft frown, _All power is cut off. We have no repair parts for EVE._

"What!? Ugh! You've gotta be kidding me!"

WALL-E was listening, but he was also thinking. What could he do to help?

He tried to use the laser between his eyes, but then he was reminded that it wasn't working. Why wasn't it working!?

"WALL-E? What's wrong?"

WALL-E shook his head, pointing to his inactive laser.

"Hm...it looks like a piece of duct tape. One second..." McCrea reached between WALL-E's eyes and grabbed the thing, "...there we go."

WALL-E smiled gratefully before staring into EVE's heart and beginning to cut-!

"Ow!"

WALL-E flinched, stopping to look at EVE's eyes for a moment before going back to work. He sliced slowly and carefully, as gentle as possible, underneath one broken piece. Meanwhile, EVE watched admirably. It was still hurting her, but she patiently held still as her heart was cut into...

* * *

Stay awake... _"Wall-E..." she begged._

 _EVE opened WALL-E's broken heart while he fought to remain conscious, revealing a very damaged motherboard. It had a deep hole in it, and it was still sparking. She frowned, gently setting it down to go find anything she could use to fix it._

 _She found three electronic boards, so she flew back to WALL-E with them._

Will any of these work? _she beeped._

 _She showed him each one, and each time he shook his head._

 _"Bah!" she looked around, at a loss for what to do._

 _WALL-E opened his trash compactor, where he held the plant. He handed it to her, "Dir...rec...tive."_

 _EVE saw her HUD inform her, it was a match. BRING TO AXIOM SUPERIOR, it read._

Should I...?

 _She shook her head, throwing the plant to the floor,_ I don't care about the plant anymore. _She thought, holding out her hand to him, "Directive..."_

 _He reached for her hand, but he surprised her by batting it away. Slowly, painfully, he crawled to the plant and gave it back to her, "Eeerrr..."_

Huh?

 _"Eeerth!" he opened his lighter and lit it, letting the small flame dance._

 _EVE looked at him, then the plant, "Earth...?"_

 _"Eeeaaarth..." WALL-E grabbed his eye and then readjusted his optics._ You can fix me, Eve... _he thought, begging her to understand,_ With spare parts in my truck...

The truck that is back on-!

 _"Earth! Earth?" EVE exclaimed._

 _WALL-E barely had time to nod before he was swept up in her arms._


	9. Chapter 9

WALL-E pulled on the damaged piece of robotics while cutting with his laser, finally pulling it free. EVE felt very tired once the part was removed, being pulled from her memories of trying to fix WALL-E on the Axiom.

WALL-E held the part in his hands, looking from it to EVE and back again.

No one could take their eyes off WALL-E and EVE. EVE fighting to stay awake and WALL-E holding the broken part, unsure of what to do with it. Even the repair-bots nearby - who were programmed for this sort of thing - were frozen in place. Only WALL-E's mind was racing, thinking as fast as was possible for his hardware.

Then, he got an idea. Would this work? He pulled out his BnL lighter, the one he always carried with him. He would always stare at the soft fire when he was missing EVE, but it was also made of metal, like the piece he just cut from EVE's heart. It was also almost the exact same size.

Well, it was worth a try.

WALL-E carefully placed the closed lighter into the slot where the white light once sat, pressing it into place where the metal was still hot from his laser. Just when it fused itself to her heart, EVE flew into the air, filled with renewed energy.

WALL-E stared at her like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

"Huh?" EVE looked into her access panel, seeing the lighter fused in place, and her eyes widened in surprise, "Oo..."

"Evah!"

EVE looked down at him and smiled while she closed the hatch to her heart, "Wall-E..." She swept him up in her arms and hugged him sweetly, gently, swirling into the air with him. She then gave him a spark-kiss.

 _Thank you..._

"Awww..." WALL-E swooned.

Everyone else cheered.

"That was amazing, WALL-E!" McCrea gaped in amazement, "How did you know that would work?"

WALL-E looked at EVE, then turned back to McCrea and shrugged.

"You didn't know? Heh. I suppose you just wanted to try anything."

EVE giggled, nuzzling WALL-E affectionately.

McCrea was about to say something else, but suddenly, a loud siren began to blare, _"Warning. All systems online. Two minutes to launch."_

"What!?" McCrea grit his teeth in anger, "AAAUTOOOOOOO!"

EVE gasped, setting WALL-E on the ground. He tried to follow her, but she stopped him and pointed firmly at the ground, "Directive." she tried to fly away again, in the direction of the captain's cabin, but she felt her arm jerked back.

"No!"

EVE swiveled to face him. Her WALL-E. He had an angry disposition about him. His optics were straight, his eyelids curving down towards each other.

EVE sighed, "Wall-E..."

He tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her closer, "No!"

EVE shook her head, gesturing for the captain to come closer so she could speak into his translator. She looked right into WALL-E's eyes, _Listen to me, WALL-E..._ she paused, taking a deep breath, _I am not letting you die. I am not going to bring you up there so he could potentially finish the job. I saw that glint in his eye. I saw the way he moved. He went straight for you. He wants to kill you. He wants you to die._

EVE looked at her hands, which were entwined with WALL-E's, laced together between them. She squeezed his brown shovel-hands gently.

 _I will not let that happen. You're too important to me._ she left it at that, not wanting to talk to WALL-E with code only. She felt her blue eyes pressing down together as she pleaded, "Wall-E...stay, please..."

"No..." WALL-E pressed the play button on his music player;

 _"It only...takes, a moment..."_

"Wall-E..." EVE rolled her eyes, "Stop."

WALL-E shook his head, his eyes filling with sadness, desperation.

"Eve, I think he's trying to say that you're important to him too." McCrea pointed out, "If it's hard for you to see him die, think about how hard it is for him!"

EVE watched his expression.

He was alone for 695 years.

She was the first robot he had seen in all that time, and she was sleek, white, new. She was fast and graceful, and she had blue eyes. All of this caught WALL-E's eye when he first looked upon her.

But, as he would later find out, she wasn't just beautiful. She was aggressive, dedicated, calculative, but she was also gentle, calm, and patient. Her voice as well was music to his ears.

He was not about to lose that.

 _"One minute to launch."_

"Ack!" EVE tugged against her boyfriend, "Let go!"

"No!" WALL-E clung to her even as she flew into the air.

EVE felt the weight in the anti-gravity of her shoulder, "AHHH! Wall-E!" she tried to shake him off.

"Evah!" WALL-E refused to let go.

"Eve! Just let him go with you!" McCrea scolded, "He obviously isn't letting you go alone, and to be honest, I don't like the idea of you going alone either!"

"I can't!" EVE shouted, "Wall-E! Please! _Please!_ "

"Evah! _Evah!_ "

"SIXTY SECONDS TO LAUNCH."

McCrea turned to the other robots, "All hands on deeeck!"

All nearby robots stood at attention.

"Han-S and D-Fib, you go up with Wall-E and Eve to shut down Auto and cancel the launch. Everyone else, follow me. Eve!" McCrea grabbed EVE's free arm and forced her to look at him, "Listen. Wall-E wants to help. Let him help, ok? That's an order."

EVE flinched, then let her eyes turn sad.

"Ok! Let's go!"

EVE watched them leave, knowing the danger of refusing the captain. It was a part of her code that could seldom be ignored. She looked at Wall-E in a new light just then. He was willing to risk his life to stay with her and make sure she was safe.

And after all, he did watch her get electrocuted and nearly die...

For him...

EVE turned his optics to face her, "Wall-E?"

"Huh?"

"Be careful." she told him, "Stay safe."

He gave a firm nod, so EVE swept him up and carried him to the broken window above, HAN-S and D-FIB right behind.

She only hoped she wasn't making a grave mistake.


	10. Chapter 10

EVE flew in the window and shifted WALL-E to her left arm so she could brandish her laser cannon, searching back and forth for AUTO. Not seeing him right away made her incredibly nervous, so she began to beep orders, knowing her comrades would understand;

 _Stick close! Stay on either side of me and look for AUTO!_

HAN-S and D-FIB let their eyes swivel back and forth, searching for the wheel. The longer they stayed like that in perfect silence, the more EVE's anxiety grew. Her grip on WALL-E tightened, afraid that he would simply grow limp and disappear.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, "Wall-E?" she whispered.

"Huh?"

EVE sighed, her nerves calmed by the slightest of margins.

"Evah?" WALL-E wrapped his arm around her back, placing his other hand in her crevice of a neck. The touch was soothing, if for no other reason than it meant he was still alive. She lay her head on his, rubbing gently.

EVE was put more and more on edge as the silence stretched on. Was AUTO toying with them!?

 _"Ten seconds to-!"_

On instinct, EVE turned and shot.

One side of the control panel exploded, throwing bits of metal and debris everywhere, _"Launch Cancelled."_

EVE lowered her weapon, feeling the heat creep to her face while WALL-E rattled faintly, shaking with fear.

 _EVE..._ D-FIB beeped.

 _What are you two doing?_ EVE scolded, trying to hide how jumpy she was, _Look around! Don't let AUTO sneak up on us!_

They all went back to searching. EVE's eyes were the fastest of them all, but HAN-S and D-FIB were also very fast. WALL-E was doing his best to keep up, but being an older model, he wasn't as efficient. Still, his eyes fell on something peculiar, jutting from the floor. WALL-E realized what it was and tapped EVE on the shoulder.

"Evah?"

EVE flinched, still on edge, "Hm?"

He pointed to the thing in the floor.

EVE's eyes widened, _HAN-S, D-FIB, keep looking._ she crept closer, realizing what it was.

She was about to shoot when it suddenly came out, causing the other two to turn. AUTO. EVE shot, but AUTO was faster, swerving to one side and reaching for WALL-E.

"NO!"

"I must follow my directive."

EVE jumped, shooting again and again, breaking more and more of the captain's cabin to the point where the floor was caving into the captain's quarters, but AUTO was annoyingly fast. EVE tried to shoot the ceiling where AUTO was headed, and where he had been, but somehow, the actual beams seemed to be made of steel. They charred, but they wouldn't break. Finally, in the struggle, AUTO tried to move in and grab WALL-E-!

"Clear!" D-FIB shocked AUTO enough to stagger him, but he was smart enough to jump back before he was really damaged. Meanwhile, HAN-S was revving, getting ready to destroy, which he did soon after D-FIB's attack. EVE took the opportunity to quick-scan the room. Her eyes fell on something interesting.

She flew to it and pointed, "Wall-E, cut."

"Oh!" he took his laser out and sliced through the set of cords she was showing him. Immediately, another loud siren blared.

 _"Warning. All power is terminated. Proceeding to system shut-down."_

"No!" AUTO seethed, "I must follow my directive!"

He charged straight for WALL-E.

"NOOO!" EVE tugged on WALL-E's arm, AUTO having a grip on everything else.

"ACK!" WALL-E turned and sliced right through AUTO's glowing red eye.

An audible screech could be heard like holding a microphone to its speaker, and AUTO jumped back, destroying even more of the cabin.

Finally, AUTO reached beside him and pressed every button that was still intact, flooding the room with Steward-bots. Each one locked onto them and grabbed them in stasis beams. All four robots were thrown out, and then the iron shades closed, locking them out. Another voice came over the speakers;

 _"System shut-down cancelled. Reverting to daily protocol."_

EVE set WALL-E down on the Lido Deck, checking for signs of damage, "Wall-E ok!?"

"Evah..." he stilled her arm with a slight shake of his head.

EVE shook fearfully, her hands resting first on WALL-E's shoulders, then his binocular eyes. He nodded. He was shaken, but he wasn't hurt.

She sighed, giving him a hug. She was warmed even more when WALL-E returned the hug, letting his hands rest on her back. She would definitely miss this if WALL-E was gone.

"H-hey you two..."

It was Captain McCrea, so EVE pulled away from WALL-E and faced her captain, giving a quick salute.

"Hey, there..." he replied calmly, "I didn't mean to issue an official order, but you are stubborn! Even by robot standards!"

"EH!?" She gestured to WALL-E.

"Haha! Well, I guess I just agreed with him more."

EVE huffed in annoyance.

"Listen though, we were close to going back out into space! It's possible that if we had, we would never come back! Imagine that, eh? Anyway, update on the defective Wall-E's, they are now apparently, imitating?"

EVE tilted her head in confusion.

"Well, I have no idea why or how, but they are behaving almost exactly like your Wall-E. It's so strange that they're able to do that now, like a switch was flipped."

What? She was confused. She was a robot, and a very calculative one at that, (which she was very proud of) so she knew that there was no possible way they could imitate so well without the prior knowledge of-!

Her memories.

Her eyes widened into bright, luminous circles. The machine that stole her memories. She had completely forgotten about that. She had worked her way around the memory problem, and so with WALL-E back, it just slipped to the back of her mind.

She turned to WALL-E, pointing outside, "Wall-E? Truck!"

"Evah?"

"Me too, soon." She summarized, "Wait for me." and with that, she gave him a quick kiss before dashing across the Lido Deck and into the sky.

She just had one thing she needed to check.


	11. Chapter 11

EVE soared through the air, coming to hide behind a shadowed part of the Axiom, just behind the setting sun. One of the defective WALL-E's was examining some of the loose garbage that had been missed by the reactivated WALL-E's and the WALL-As. It grabbed something from the trash and looked at it.

 _Impostor..._

"Oo..." the WALL-E spun it this way and that, examining it from all angles. EVE couldn't see what it was at first, but it gave off quite a shine. She wanted to get a closer look...

Maybe she let her guard down because he looked just like her lover, or maybe she was just being reckless after her recent encounter, but she ended up making a noise and the WALL-E spotted her.

"Evah!"

Her LED eyebrows shot up.

"Evah!" he showed her the thing he had been examining, which turned out to be a metal towel hanger. It had an odd elegant curve to it, and it had a few fine details. No wonder it caught his eye. He was after all-!

No. This wasn't WALL-E. It was an impostor.

"Wall-E...?"

He pressed the hook into her hands, nodding excitedly. He then went off to grab something else.

It was indistinguishable. The way he moved, the way he acted, the way he said her name...every little thing was spot-on.

She looked at the hook in her hands. This was wrong. She felt so guilty, and she didn't even know why. Well, she knew why, but-Arg! This was so confusing!

"Evah!"

"No! _No!_ " she dropped the hook on the dusty ground, "I'm sorry..." she flew off without giving it a second thought.

Wall-E. Gotta get to Wall-E. My Wall-E.

Gotta get to the truck.

She found the lever by the door and pulled it, allowing it to open just enough so that she could slip inside, then she closed it again with the other lever.

"Evah!"

The voice sent shivers down her frame, "Wall-E!" she felt around him, perceiving, "Lighter?"

"Huh?"

 _The incident with AUTO shocking her happened after her memories were stolen, so if he was the real WALL-E -_ her _WALL-E - he would know._

"Wall-E, lighter. Where?"

WALL-E tilted his head to the side.

 _Come on...just tell me...where is it?_

He let his eyebrows droop, laying a hand over her access panel, "Heeere."

EVE nuzzled him, relieved, "Wall-E..."

He was real. He was hers.

"Evah?" WALL-E pulled back to look into her eyes, beeping in concern.

EVE shook her head. She wasn't sure if she could explain without words, but she was convinced when she saw his eyes.

She knew what he would want. Just try.

So, she gestured outside, then she pointed at him, moved her hands in the shape of a box, and then another, and another. She finished by softly squeezing his shoulders.

WALL-E processed all of this with intrigue. The others...him...more of them...

"Act. Just. Like..." she stopped.

Just like him.

Exact copies.

WALL-E didn't fully understand what she was telling him, but he trusted her completely, and by the looks of it, it was upsetting to her. He figured, all he could do was stick by her, and offer comfort.

So, WALL-E softly brushed his thumb along her cheek, pointing to himself with his other hand.

EVE was touched. She reached down to give him a hug, _Never change, ok?_

He didn't understand what she said, but he nodded anyway, returning the hug.

It was then that EVE remembered how late it was, and gently pushed WALL-E back into his shelf, rocking him back and forth. WALL-E sighed happily, making EVE giggle softly, sweetly, and she let her hands wander with her eyes. His rough treads, his arms and hands, his optics. She just wanted to be with him. She let her hands stop at his neck, massaging around his back. WALL-E just loved the attention, and he loved how it felt. It was all just making him melt. He let out a soft purr, leaning towards her lovingly. She lay her head on his while continuing to stroke him.

They were now all the same, but there was no way they were programmed with sentience either, otherwise that computer wouldn't have needed to steal her memories of him. She understood computers, and she remembered what the captain had said. The defective WALL-E's had just started behaving this way out of nowhere, like a switch being flipped. Sentience was not something that could be taught. It was something learned, something felt. It usually came slowly, and all the WALL-E's had basic hardware, so achieving sentience would take forever.

But...even so...that WALL-E near the Axiom knew her...he knew her name and face. That could only mean...well...

EVE gave WALL-E a small kiss, pulling away to hover beside him on the shelf. She watched him slowly come out of his trance, proceeding to box up and go to sleep.

She gave one last pat on the head before going dormant herself, tired from the day's events, and tired of being away from WALL-E.

She wouldn't let AUTO's escape ruin her night.

* * *

 **My attempt at fluff... :3**


	12. Chapter 12

EVE got quite a scare that morning.

"EVAH!"

She jolted awake with a start, forcing all her systems to come online, "Wall-E!?"

She looked around frantically in the dark, "Wall-E!?" Not seeing anyone around, her eyes locked on the hole in the roof, so she flew threw it. She couldn't see anything in the light of the rising sun, "Wall-E!?"

"Evah!"

She turned to the sound, just catching a bunch of Steward-bots disappear inside the Axiom in the distance, "Wall-E!" she bolted after them.

"Eve!" McCrea shouted.

She stopped.

The Lido Deck was _swarming_. Thousands of humans and WALL-E's being restrained by SECUR-T's everywhere, all buzzing with activity. Curiously, all the humans were locked in their hoverchairs, wearing what looked to be straight jackets and gags. All the WALL-E's spotted her at once, and every sound in the room stopped.

EVE wanted to keep looking around, but she found herself unable to move. She hadn't been able to handle just two indistinguishable WALL-E's! How in the world could she keep her sanity when thousands of WALL-E's were everywhere!?

It was all...dead...silent...

"Evah!"

And then chaos.

"Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""Evah!"

"Ah!" EVE pressed her hands against either side of her head, trying unsuccessfully to drown out the noise, "STOOOP!"

The noise didn't stop.

"EVE! OVER HERE!"

The captain.

EVE made a bee-line for him, "Where!? Wall-E!?"

"I have no idea!" he was in a straight jacket like all the others, but he didn't have a gag like the others. He had to shout over all the noise, "Every one of these guys acts just like him! But, listen-!"

 _"Twenty seconds to launch."_

EVE's eyes widened.

"Auto is trying to launch the ship again! With all of us on it! Get up there and stop him before we all leave Earth forever!"

EVE shook fearfully, holding her head with both arms. She could already feel her system overheating from all the stress. All the WALL-E's were still calling her name, and she couldn't see any of the rogue robots anywhere. All she could see was trapped humans, WALL-E's, and stewards. It was all so overwhelming, she began to see static, and she knew that meant her eyes were flickering, glitching.

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _Override._ EVE commanded herself, _Remain conscious._

"Eve!" McCrea gestured to the side, "Everyone else has been captured and is stuck in the repair ward! You can get them out and then head for AUTO!"

 _But what about WALL-E!?_ EVE beeped.

"There's no time! Just get rid of that stupid wheel!"

She didn't have to be told twice. She quickly saluted and bolted off, the panicked WALL-E's behind her _not doing much to calm her nerves._

She fought to hold her ground and keep her sanity, trying to ignore all the shouts of "Evah!" She finally found the repair ward, blowing open the door with her cannon. She beamed upon seeing friendly faces. D-FIB and HAN-S, L-T, BRL-A, PR-T, V-QM, even M-O! They were all trapped in the slots along the sides of the room, along with _even more impostor WALL-E's seeing her and calling her name._

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _Override._ EVE pleaded with her system, _Remain conscious._

"Darling." PR-T jumped excitedly, while the others cheered, happy to see her.

 _Eve, are you ok?_ M-O beeped worriedly.

 _I'm fine._ EVE lied, _Let's get you guys out of here._ she cocked her weapon and destroyed the control panel on the side of the room, and all the suspension beams went down, "Go!"

Everybody hurried down the hall, trailed by a large group of WALL-E's, still calling for who they thought was their girlfriend. EVE was beginning to have some serious jamais vu from it all. The word "Evah!" was losing all meaning. It was just jumbled gibberish at this point.

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _No! Override!_ EVE nearly cried out, _Remain conscious!_

 _Eve?_ M-O asked, _Are all of those WALL-E's stressing you out?_

 _I'm fine! I'm fine!_ EVE was trying not to shake so much that her appendages would clank together noisily, _Let's just get AUTO!_

 _"Ten seconds to launch. Ten...nine..."_

It didn't take much longer to find AUTO, _Let's go! Hurry!_ EVE panicked, grabbing the nearest non-flying robot (VA-QM) and racing for the window. The others picked up on this and flying robots grabbed non-flying robots, following close behind EVE.

 _"...three...two...one..."_

"NO!" EVE cried, seeing the ship begin to shake.

 _"Launch."_

And all at once, everyone was thrown onto the floor of the Lido Deck. EVE was suddenly surrounded by WALL-E's, all calling her name, all swarming her completely.

"Evah!""Evah!""Evah!" _"Evah!""Evah!""Evah!"_ **"Evah!""Evah!""Evah!"** ** _"Evah!""Evah!""Evah!""EVAH!""EVAH!""EVAAAH!"_**

She screamed. For half a minute, she was trapped with all these impostors, knowing the real WALL-E was among them, knowing that one of these loud voices was her WALL-E, just trying to find her and seek comfort from all this chaos, but being unable to get to her. After what felt like an eternity, the ship leveled out and she sprung into the air.

 _Warning: System overh-!_

 _Override! OVERRIDE!_ EVE was at her wits end, _Remain conscious!_ _ **OVERRIDE!**_

She couldn't hold up against it, though. The stress on her system was far too much. She didn't realize this initially, but her body had reached almost 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Any hotter, and her circuits would fry. So, her arms tucked into her body, her head pressed down, and her eyes flickered off.


	13. Chapter 13

One moment, WALL-E was asleep beside his true love, and the next he was swiped away and taken to the Axiom.

"Evah!" he called, not knowing what else to do.

He just caught her blue eyes flickering to life before he was in the sky, "Wall-E!?"

"Evah!"

He was instantly overwhelmed when he was surrounded by many many copies of himself, also being restrained. He struggled to free himself, "Evah!"

All the other WALL-E's were behaving just as he was. Trying to free themselves. He also noticed that the humans were back on the Axiom, and a countdown was sounding;

 _"Thirty seconds to launch."_

WALL-E yanked against his oppressors, but stasis beams are strong. Until someone else could get him out, there was no way he could be freed.

"Wall-E!" and there she was, instantly sending a hush over the crowd.

He couldn't blame all the WALL-E's. If he knew himself, he knew that EVE was enough to render him speechless. He loves her so much, after all.

And then, every WALL-E erupted in shouts of "Evah!". Even he began to shout at first, but he quickly stopped when he realized how stressed it was making her. He watched in sadness, feeling more and more desolate by the second. He wanted to make all the WALL-E's just shut up! He wanted them to be quiet and be patient! But they were shouting and screaming again and again, making EVE's head spin faster and faster!

"EVE! OVER HERE!"

EVE dashed to the captain, and then his view of her was obstructed by all the other WALL-E's. He was so sick of seeing himself. He was frustrated! He wanted to see EVE's round blue eyes! He wanted to seeing her sleek form and white hands! He didn't want to see brown! All he saw was yellow and brown! All he heard was his own voice! He was trapped by himself!

 _"Twenty seconds to launch."_

WALL-E couldn't see where EVE was, and he was so scared that his hydraulics rattled. He was stuck in this mess with no way out, forced to stare at himself until he hated what he saw, until he couldn't even look at his own hands without feeling sick.

 _"Ten seconds to launch. Ten...nine..."_

WALL-E watched EVE fly into the air, carrying VA-QM, followed by the other flying robots carrying other non-flying robots. They were headed right for AUTO's window.

 _"...three...two...one..."_

"NO!"

 _"Launch."_

Time seemed to slow for WALL-E after this. EVE's voice was still music to him, but it pained him, knowing how stressed she must be, surrounded by indistinguishable copies of himself. He saw her fall to the floor when the ship launched as the stasis beam he was trapped in fell along with her.

He heard her scream. He zoomed in to where he could see her in the crowd of WALL-E's rushing to her before she jumped into the air, looking like the most confused robot to ever live. He pushed through the copies of himself gently, slowly inching towards her. He stared at her, that gut-wrenching feeling creeping back into him. He wanted nothing more than to rush to her and hold her, bring her somewhere quiet and rock her to sleep, just as she had done for him...

But he knew that if he did anything, it would only make things worse. It would only hurt her more, so as much as it killed him inside, he had to hold himself back. He had to wait. All he could do was reassure himself that he would help her soon. He would get to her.

 _I promise, Eve...I will save you..._

 _You can count on me..._

* * *

REBOOT

EVE felt numb all throughout her body. She couldn't move at first. All her systems were offline, non-functioning. She couldn't see or hear. She could perceive nothing at first. It confused her why she was awake, but still not on.

Then, her eyes came into focus, looking at a rusty brown ceiling. She started to hear a low hum, soft beeping sounds, a little bit of clicking. Finally, her head broke off her body and her arms fell to the floor.

 _Eve..._ M-O wheeled to her side, nudging her gently, _Are you ok?_

EVE turned her head to the side, seeing the rogue robots all around, concern written all over their screens. Those who had eyes were all frowning, while those who didn't simply seemed upset. M-O nudged her again;

 _Come on, Eve. Let's go._ M-O pushed underneath EVE's head until she worked up the strength to sit up. She propped herself up on the wall nearby, running the fingers of one hand along her LED display. She moaned in pain.

 _Eve..._ M-O began, using very soft beeps, _We all heard you scream, and we're all very concerned for you-!_

 _Did you stop AUTO?_

M-O seemed taken aback by the question, _N-no..._

 _Why not!?_ EVE snapped angrily, _You should have destroyed him! You should have gone to him without me! You should have killed him and found WALL-E!_ _ **You should have destroyed him!**_

 _Eve, we were worried about you!_

 _ **I don't care! AUTO deserves to die!**_ EVE was boiling over inside, so angry, so furious that they would waste time worrying about her when they were drifting off into space! When WALL-E was still in that crowd of identical copies of himself likely as confused and disoriented as she was!

 _Eve, calm down..._ M-O took her hand in his brush, _It hasn't been that long, there's still plenty of ti-!_

 _ **I DON'T CAAARE!**_ she yanked her hand away, holding it with the other.

Silence.

 _I just..._ EVE was about to start sobbing again. She wasn't about to. She couldn't break down again.

 _Eve..._ M-O tried to think of what to say before turning to the others for help. He remembered when EVE was stuck in the repair ward and WALL-E isolated himself, feeling desolate and lonely. He was able to offer comfort because he knew what would make WALL-E feel better, seeing as he liked to spend time with WALL-E as his friend, but despite his job being linked to the plant evaluators, he didn't know as much about EVE. Maybe he was just afraid of EVE's right arm, he wasn't really sure.

 _You've overheated._ he said at last, _All that stress is getting to your head. Try and initiate a system cooldown._

EVE looked at him, then back at her hands. It was worth a try.

 _Commence system cooldown._ she told her computer.

COMMENCING: SYSTEM COOLDOWN Flashed across her HUD. A cooling fan appeared in the corner of her vision, and she instantly began to feel herself calm down. It was like all the stress was melting away, and her panic vanished along with it. M-O smiled to himself in the calm moment.

SYSTEM COOLDOWN COMPLETE

INTERNAL TEMPERATURE STABILIZED

EVE hovered into the air, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, _M-O, how did you know that would work?_

M-O averted his eyes, slightly sheepish, _I once went to the repair ward for extreme panic. My sensors were broken, so I saw everything as a foreign contaminant, even though there was no dirt anywhere around me. It turned out to just be a simple malfunction, and I was told to initiate a system cooldown._ he explained, spinning his cleaning brush absently, _I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, and so my system was overheating, becoming confused as to what was a foreign contaminant or not._

EVE watched him, a little intrigued, _Why were you able to cope once we came to Earth?_

"Huh?"

 _Wouldn't everything on Earth count as a foreign contaminant?_ EVE asked, _The plant, too. It's all covered in dirt, isn't it?_

M-O let his gaze drop to the floor, _Earth is our home, though..._

EVE was surprised.

 _Yeah...I still see foreign contaminant flash in my eyes, but it no longer bothers me._ he managed a sad smile, _Earth is home. It's my home, our home._

EVE had one more question, _When did you gain that mindset?_

M-O hadn't wanted to think about that, but he answered anyway;

 _As soon as I saw WALL-E crushed in the holo detector..._


	14. Chapter 14

EVE now admired M-O on a whole new level. Not only did he throw his directive away to call Earth his home, he denied what he was built for to get WALL-E out of the holo detector! She hadn't realized before how incredibly selfless and humble M-O was.

EVE smiled, _Hey, M-O...if you like, I can call for the captain to turn your sensors off-!_

"No!" he yelped.

"Huh?"

He averted his gaze again, _Please, don't. It's who I am! Microbe-Obliterator! That's my name! It's my job! My purpose! Taking that away from me is like never letting you near plants again!_

Well, EVE did love plants, in fact, she prided herself on the garden she had around her and WALL-E's truck. She was built to understand them. She knew almost everything about them.

M-O revved his engine a little bit, _It's my identity. It would bother me more if it was gone, really._ he glanced up at EVE, then back at the ground.

 _I see..._ EVE closed her eyes, thinking about what he had said, then smiled at everyone else, _Who's ready to get revenge on AUTO?_

Ecstatic cheers filled the air.

EVE narrowed her eyes, filled with renewed determination, "Then let's go!"

EVE blasted a hole in the iron shades of the captain's cabin. Once inside, she set VA-QM down and brandished her weapon, pointing it right at AUTO.

"Turn around!" EVE demanded, "Take us home!"

"We cannot." AUTO replied monotone, emotionless, "I must follow my directive."

"Your directive is irrelevant!" EVE seethed, "Your directive is wrong!"

"I cannot take us home."

EVE wanted to just blow him up right there, but if she did that, the Axiom would float uselessly out into space, never to return. What she had to do now was either switch him off and steer them home, or convince him that his directive was wrong (which wasn't likely). EVE's trigger finger was itching, though. She _really_ wanted to shoot him until he was less than scrap metal.

That wouldn't help, though.

EVE began to beep very softly to the others, _Ok. HAN-S, D-FIB, keep him busy. PR-T and L-T, find his off switch. Everyone else create chaos, enough to confuse anyone. I'm going to chart a course back home._

And find her WALL-E.

All at once, the room burst with activity. Everyone charged forward, distracting or searching, making lots of noise. EVE almost felt overwhelmed again, but she forced herself to focus. She scanned what was left of the control panel, her eyes jumping around at the speed of light, searching, processing.

In all the chaos, M-O held back and watched EVE, using the buzzing activity as a cover. He saw her arms moving in a blur, working to find.

She found what she was looking for. They were now in the stratosphere, almost broken from Earth's gravitational force. There was still plenty of time to just turn around and go back, but only if they could seize the ship in time. She fiddled with the controls.

 _What to do..._

INCOMING CALL: _The Captain_

EVE answered, _"Eve! Do you know where Auto's manual switch is?"_

 _No._

 _"It's up by the ceiling! At his base! It's behind a panel!"_

EVE gasped, spinning around to look at all the robots swarming AUTO. PR-T was flitting around him, looking for an off switch with L-T. EVE took advantage of the confusion, darting to AUTO's base and prying the panel open.

"No!" AUTO dashed to the side, hitting EVE's head hard and making her spin dizzily.

WARNING: BLUNT FORCE IMPACT. ATTEMPTING DATA RETRIEVAL.

"Ow..." EVE felt the dent near the back of her head. He had hit her hard enough to put valuable data at risk, hence the data retrieval. She was at risk of losing memories.

"Evah!" M-O jumped up onto the control panel and grabbed one of AUTO's appendages, yelling loudly. It was right in AUTO's ear. He spun violently, skewing the ship's artificial gravity until EVE's head was spinning.

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _Override._ EVE told her body as calmly as she could muster, _Commence system cooldown._

As her fan icon came on her display, she gasped in horror upon seeing M-O sparking on the floor. She hurried to him, _M-O? Are you ok!?_

He simply moaned in pain.

EVE picked him up, cradling him carefully in her left arm. This is wrong.

"AUTO!" EVE cocked her weapon, pointing it straight at him, "Bring us home now!"

Everything was suddenly quiet. The rogue robots backed away from AUTO, except for HAN-S, who held the wheel in place so he couldn't move. Their attention was drawn to the poor broken M-O, who was not doing well. His golden eyes were flickering weakly on his screen as he fought to stay conscious.

"I am going to shut you down, whether you like it or-!"

 _Bang!_


	15. Chapter 15

REBOOT

 _Please, let me stop seeing that screen..._ EVE tenderly touched a throbbing part of her head, right near her eye, "Ow..."

"Eeeee..."

EVE turned to the side, "M-O..." It was so dark that she could barely see him. She reached out with her other hand, letting her thumb trail along a crack in his screen, _I'm so sorry..._

M-O gave a weak smile, _It's not your fault, EVE..._

EVE rolled onto her side, pushing herself into an upright position, "Ugh..." she held her forehead carefully, _Did you see what happened?_

 _I think so..._ he pushed himself onto his front so he could press against the ground with his brush, shakily getting on his wheel, _I saw someone get pushed by AUTO into you. They hit your head and you switched off. Next thing I know, we were falling._

EVE got into the air and lifted M-O into her arms, _Come on, let's get out of here._ She looked around, finding nothing but pitch-black darkness, _Oh no..._

 _What?_

 _I know where we are..._ EVE triple-checked her internal map just to be sure.

 _Where are we?_

EVE heard something fall and spun around, feeling herself become paranoid, _No...no, stay calm...it's ok..._ she told herself.

 _Eve?_

 _We're in the caves._

M-O quivered shock, _What!?_

 _We're in the catacombs,_ she explained, _the very same place you got lost in nearly a week ago._

EVE had to hold M-O tighter to stop him from falling, _Let's just get out._ and with that, EVE began to navigate through the intense darkness.

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _Override._ EVE calmly commanded, _Commence system cooldown._

EVE was getting quite good at calming herself.

 _Wait._ M-O said then, _I thought we were on the Axiom in space? Weren't the caves back on Earth?_

EVE stopped in her tracks, _You're right._ she scanned a nearby wall, _Am I dreaming?_

 _If you are, then so am I._

EVE felt herself blush. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

 _This all feels real to me._ he added, _The crack in my screen really hurts, I see foreign contaminant everywhere...and you still have the same dent on your head that AUTO gave you, along with the new one._

 _You're right. It was a silly thought._

 _No it wasn't._

EVE stopped again, her hand still hovering over a wall, _What?_

 _You should give yourself more credit, you know._ M-O continued, _It's cool that you can consider a problem in more angles than most, even if they may seem irrational._

She hadn't thought about it like that. She smiled to herself while continuing to search.

Each wall was the same, rough and brown. There was no variation anywhere at any place. The corridors seemed to stretch on forever, and there was no discernible difference between a wall and the wall right beside it! EVE tried to keep track of it all, but despite being a robot, it was all just jumbling in her already scrambled mind.

 _Hey, Eve..._

M-O again, _Yeah?_

 _Are you always like this?_

She paused her searching to look down at him, _Like what?_

 _You know. Calculative, commanding, in control..._

EVE flushed, _No...you saw what happened to me back there. I completely lost my cool!_

 _Anyone would have._ M-O pointed out, _I was getting stressed too, which is how I remembered the system cooldown. It really helps me out._

EVE considered this, _Well, I usually like to be gentle around WALL-E..._

 _Well, you love him._ M-O reminded her, _He told me that it's really annoying when I try to clean him, so I don't. It doesn't bother me, because I know he's happy. It's the same thing. You wouldn't want to come off as condescending to him._

EVE gave a slight nod, continuing her search, _It's not exactly that. I'm still me, I'm just a calmer me. Um, does that make sense?_

M-O gave a gentle chuckle, _Mm...yes, it does._

EVE was getting exasperated. It seemed like her search for the exit was just yielding more tunnels. They really did all look the same, and no amount of...

Wait.

EVE did a quick cross-reference of the map she was filling and the map of the caves she already had.

NO CORRELATION

 _Something's not right..._ she beeped to M-O.

 _Huh? What's wrong?_

She did one more scan of the wall beside her, predicting that the next left turn would be a dead end. She turned that way and ran into a wall.

 _It's all the same._ EVE turned M-O to face herself, _Nature is not this predictable! I know that! There may be patterns, but this is literally the same place we've already been!_

 _What!?_ M-O shrunk back into his dormant form, _Will we be here forever!?_

EVE felt the heat drain from her face while her computer tried to logic this out. This should not be possible. The caves were repeating. The only way it would remotely make sense is if someone built these caverns, but even then they wouldn't keep stretching on like this forever.

Unless...

EVE began to shake.

What's wrong!? M-O panicked, _Will we be stuck here forever!?_

EVE didn't answer right away. She was still trying to process what her computer was telling her, and she didn't like it, not in the slightest. She had been afraid in the past, even terrified, but never so much for herself. She gently set M-O on the ground.

 _Wait!_ he tried to grab her hand again, _What are you going to do!?_

He didn't like seeing so much raw fear in her eyes.

 _A-allow me to explain..._ EVE laced her fingers together nervously, _Uh...remember how I suggested we were in a dream?_

 _You don't mean to say that we are!?_ M-O squealed.

 _Well...I don't know..._ EVE didn't like admitting that she didn't know, but it was true this time. She lifted a rock from the ground and sat it up on one sharp point, then with perfect precision, she spun it like a top.

Her logical mind was telling her that the rock should stop spinning almost immediately, since it wasn't built to spin, it was just a rock.

...

And yet...

 _What...?_ M-O watched it spin, almost in a trance, _That hurts my brain just looking at it..._

EVE brought both hands to her face, _It's true..._

 _You mean we_ are _in a dream?_ M-O almost whispered, still staring at the spinning rock.

 _It would seem so..._ EVE replied, filled with dread.

 _Why does that scare you so much?_ M-O dared to ask.

EVE brought out her ion cannon, shooting at a wall nearby. There was a blast and lots of smoke, but once the smoke cleared, only the smallest of dents was left in the wall.

 _What are you thinking, EVE?_

EVE hugged herself, opening her access panel. Inside was a perfectly intact robotic heart. No lighter to be seen.

 _M-O...I have a theory..._ she cocked her weapon, then carefully swiveled it around...

Until it was pointed right at her still-open heart...

 _EVE! What are you doing!? Stop that! It's dangerous!_

 _M-O..._ EVE tried to stop her voice from shaking uncontrollably, _I've considered every possible solution, and this one makes the most sense._

 _But what if you're wrong!? What if this is real!?_

 _M-O...look at that rock._

He did. It had yet to stop spinning.

 _This could only exist within a computer. It's too finite, too perfect. I think you know that, too._

 _But if you're wrong I'll be here all alone! I wasn't programmed with any kind of map, I'd wander in here until the end of time!_

 _I've already thought of that, and I know I'm asking for a great deal of trust, but I promise; I will find you, and I will wake you up._

M-O let his expression soften, _Promise?_

EVE smiled sincerely, _Cross my heart._

M-O forced himself to relax, knowing that if EVE really wanted him to be lost, she would've left him behind, _Ok...I trust you, but please hurry! I don't like being alone in the dark!_

 _I swear on my life that I will wake you up as soon as I can._ And she meant it, _I'll see you soon._

 _Later..._ M-O smiled.

After one last reassuring nod, EVE squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact;

 _BANG!_


	16. Chapter 16

EVE felt a loud scream tear through her throat, but she couldn't hear it right away as all her internal diagnostics began to flash red. It was the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced. Is this really what it felt like to be blasted with her own cannon? Luckily, it didn't last forever, and she found herself staring up at a bright ceiling.

Her auditory processors picked up the frantic throbbing of her heart, trying to calm itself down. She was awake and alert, but more than that, she was experiencing a kind of intense panic.

 _Warning: System overheat imminent. Beginning emergency shut-down._

 _O-override._ EVE felt her own thoughts wavering dangerously, _Commence system cooldown._

She began to take in her surroundings as she worked up the strength to rise in the air. Everything around her felt so solid, it was strange how she ever believed that dream was real, but it seemed very real at the time. She was in a small white room with a tiled floor and ceiling, a heavy iron door on one wall, and on another was a computer monitor with an expansive keyboard. On her left was a machine, hooked up to her head at multiple places, as well as an analyzer stuck to her make-shift lighter heart. On her right, M-O was on an examination table, also plugged in at many places. He was shaking with fear in his sleep.

EVE quickly remembered her promise, and as soon as her system cooldown was complete, she bolted to the computer and fiddled with it, commanding it to take M-O out of stasis. He woke up slowly, groggily, like he was reluctant.

 _EVE..._ he beeped, still half-asleep, _Where are you, EVE..._

 _I'm here, M-O._ she coaxed him, like a mother with a scared child, _You're awake now. It was only a bad dream._

 _EVE..._ M-O finally opened his eyes, _EVE...EVE! You're alive!_

 _You bet I am!_ She unplugged him from the machine, lifting him up in what she hoped was a calming gesture, _Come on, we need to find the robots and the passengers! Who knows how long we were asleep?_

EVE recognized the hallway outside. It was close to where she had emerged from the garbage disposal unit with WALL-E, after he had been shocked by AUTO. She cross-referenced that with her internal map, and then she bolted down the hall. She could only imagine what had been going on while the two of them were gone. It was a miracle that AUTO didn't just kill them right away, or maybe he tried and someone stopped him.

Or maybe they weren't his true targets.

EVE knew a thing or two about hate. It clings to your brain like a tumor, destroying your system from the inside out. EVE learned the hard way that hate gets you nowhere. All it does is hurt you, and not the person you hate. It was better to just let go and love your friends instead.

EVE had trained herself to think of WALL-E whenever AUTO came to mind. This way, she could heal herself with love. Maybe she would also think of M-O, and the other robots, the captain. After all, love only grows stronger the more people are involved.

She smiled at that thought. Love is infinite, but also rational. It was the only thing that was both those things together, at the same time.

She burst into another room, where to her shock, three robots (D-FIB, HAN-S, and PR-T) were in suspended animation, while four others (L-T, BRL-A, VN-GO, and VA-QM) were locked in a cage hanging from the ceiling. EVE set M-O down briefly to free them, then all nine of them charged down the hall lead by EVE. She wanted to rile them up, so she began to sing the song that had brought them together;

"Put on your Sunday clothes, there's lots of world out there!"

Everyone else hummed along however they could, and it seemed to excite the entire group. EVE felt comforted, like singing the song helped her feel closer to WALL-E. It was exhausting her to speak so clearly in English, but she didn't stop, at least not until they got to the Lido Deck.

"And we won't come home until we've kissed a girl!" she finished, pausing for her processor to catch up, _Ok, let's be prepared this time. Everyone, get all your weapons ready. I have a plan, but we're all going to have to-!_

 _"Evah!"_

 _Oh no! Not again!_

Yes, the Lido Deck was still teeming with WALL-Es. EVE immediately began to feel her migraine come back full-force as they all shouted her name. Again and again.

EVE got an idea just then, _Everyone! Go on ahead! I'll catch up!_ she handed M-O over to PR-T, _Please be careful with him, he's injured. I want everyone to sneak up on AUTO and spy on him! Don't you dare let him know that you're there! Just try and pick up on his plan, and then report back to me, got it!?_

Everyone confirmed and headed off.

 _EVE!_ M-O cried worriedly.

EVE cupped her hands around her speaker, _Don't worry! I'll be fine!_

M-O was still frowning on the way up to the cabin.

EVE then spun around to stare at all the WALL-E's. How in the world was she going to find him in all these copies!? She massaged her forehead, feeling the dent that was still there. What to do?

Her eyes then fell onto one among the others. Whereas the others were kind of in a panicked state, this one was quiet. All he did was stare longingly, staying still. He had sadness in his eyes.

She immediately felt the connection, **_"QUIET!"_**

And a hush falls over the crowd...

She very slowly approached the one WALL-E out, the quiet longing one, "Lighter...where...?"

He smiled warmly, reaching out for her heart, "Heeere..."

EVE felt her eyes curl upwards, "Wall-E..."

He nuzzled under her head, not saying anything. She slipped her hand between his closed fingers, "I'm sorry..."

WALL-E gently squeezed her hand, "No..."

She giggled. He wouldn't accept her apology because he didn't want her blaming herself. It wasn't her fault.

None of this was.

Suddenly, a steward-bot grabbed WALL-E in a stasis beam and hurried away.

"No!" EVE rushed after him, but it was too late. WALL-E was already lost again in the sea of humans, WALL-E's, and SECUR-Ts. EVE growled in frustration.

"Evah!"

M-O.

All the robots had returned.

 _EVE, AUTO isn't doing anything. It's like he's simply waiting._

EVE's eyes opened into big bright circles, _What?_

 _This is his plan!_ M-O explained, _He's just going to keep kicking us out until he can get his taser fixed! I saw! He was fiddling with it!_

EVE's right hand instinctively flew to her heart, where she knew WALL-E's lighter was keeping her alive. She had used her whole power core to break that taser, and thinking back, it may not have been the best way to break it, but it was the only way she could think of that she could actually execute without letting WALL-E get hurt. She had to think fast, and she was already injured. Maybe it had messed with her mind.

"Then...how...?" EVE said in English.

 _Eve, I saw you found WALL-E._

EVE didn't answer. She just let her eyes grow sad.

 _Look...if it makes you feel better, we can find him before going after AUTO again. We need time to think of a plan anyway._

EVE looked down at her laced-up fingers. She would feel much _much_ better if WALL-E was with her.

 _How did you find him?_ M-O asked.

 _I asked him where his lighter is._ she explained, _Only the real WALL-E knows._

 _Aha! Clever!_ M-O replied, _Let's find him together, alright?_

The other robots began to cheer.

EVE couldn't help but get a little emotional, _Thank you..._ then her eyes narrowed, _Let's go! I think he landed somewhere over here!_


	17. Chapter 17

EVE hovered into the group of WALL-E's, and they perked up when she asked, "Lighter, where?" All the WALL-E's when asked this would try to get it from the slot beside their solar charge display, which is where WALL-E kept it until he used it to fix EVE. This is how all of them were reacting. It was a little frustrating, but she wouldn't give up. She hurried through all of them, "Lighter, where? Lighter, where?" Finally, near the back of the group, there was one who perked up especially when this was asked.

"Lighter, where?"

WALL-E approached her carefully, touching her access panel, "Heeere!"

She immediately swiped him and pointed her weapon at the other WALL-Es and Stewards. This wouldn't work. She couldn't keep asking this or all the others would catch on and the question would no longer work. She needed a more solid way to pick him out of the crowd. She turned upon hearing VA-QM sneeze.

Seeing VN-GO nearby gave her an idea. She set WALL-E down in front of him and pointed, "Paint."

"Huh!?" WALL-E exclaimed.

VN-GO excitedly spread neon green paint all over the one true WALL-E, who shook in annoyance, "Ugh!" he waved his paint-covered arms, flicking some of the paint off.

EVE laughed at his reaction, "Temporary." she grabbed him again, "Captain."

She then repeated in code, _Let's go find the captain._

The whole group hurried over to where the captain was, still locked in his hoverchair. His expression brightened upon seeing them.

"Wall-E! Is that the real one?"

EVE nodded happily.

"That's what I thought. Good to see you again, Buddy!"

WALL-E buzzed in reply.

"Ok! What's the status on AUTO?"

EVE began to explain, short and sweet, _He's trying to buy for time until he can fix his taser._

"I see...well, how close is he?"

 _Not close._ M-O replied, still being carried by PR-T, _He's just fiddling with it. I think we may have damaged his cognitive functions._

"Cool. So how do we get rid of him?"

EVE chimed in, _I think I know a way._

"Oh? Why don't you tell us, Eve?"

 _Sure thing, captain. What we need to do is sneak someone small into the room and have them switch him off. We can't just barge in, or he'll just shut us down again. I realize now that stealth is the way to go._ she explained, WALL-E still cradled in her arms, _Listen, we need to surprise him. We need to be sneaky._

McCrea smiled with a goofy grin, "I know how to do that..."

EVE smiled back, mischievously, _I'm listening..._

* * *

All was quiet in the Captain's Cabin. AUTO was still trying to get his taser to turn on, having hired a repair-bot to fix it. The poor guy had no idea that he was helping such a monster, just innocently trying to fulfill his directive. Meanwhile, someone hid in the shadows, awaiting the perfect moment to strike. Finally, the one who was hiding snuck carefully to AUTO's access panel, wiggling himself into the small opening. He carefully reached for AUTO's manual button-!

AUTO picked up on it and threw L-T across the room. EVE jumped out of her hiding spot to catch him, charging straight for AUTO. She tried to hold him down and press the button forcefully. Unfortunately, she couldn't restrain him and press the button at the same time, and ended up being thrown across the room just like L-T. She was prepared, however. She had a plan.

Again, she tackled AUTO, deciding to focus on restraining AUTO only, gesturing for L-T to finish the job.

"Stop! Wait!"

"I'm not listening to you, rust-bucket!" EVE cursed, "You're not worth the dust in my stasis chamber!"

Just as L-T was about to push the button, he was restrained by a stasis beam.

EVE gasped as AUTO pushed hard against her arms, his red eye staring into her soul;

"I am not making the same mistake twice."

"AH!" EVE cried out, metal grinding against metal as she struggled to hold her ground, ultimately though, it wasn't enough to keep her from getting slammed into the iron shades nearby. It broke through the window on the outside, and so inside EVE was stuck to it from the suctioning of outer space. She struggled to free herself, but her right arm was pinned to her side. She tried to reach for anything with her left arm, but AUTO had already turned to struggle with another robot.

EVE had to find a way out before all the oxygen on the ship was sucked out into space.

She sent a communication link, _Captain! Initiate Plan B!_

 _"Roger that!"_ he replied.

A couple seconds passed before the elevator doors burst open, flooding with stewards and rogues alike. They swarmed AUTO with a mighty rage, except a still green-painted WALL-E, who made a beeline for her, "Evah?"

EVE held the iron shades with her one arm, fighting the force that was threatening to throw her out into the vacuum of space, "Wall-E! Stop!" the metal broke somewhat just then, so she was half-way out the window.

WALL-E yelped, grabbing EVE's arm.

"Don't!" EVE tightened her fingers around WALL-E's hand, "Stay."

She couldn't let WALL-E pull her out completely, because she was the only thing keeping everyone inside. Soon enough, the steel rails keeping AUTO on the ceiling were starting to heat up. They would have to hurry.

 _"Should I do it now?"_ McCrea asked through EVE's ear chip.

 _N-no. Not yet. I'll tell you when._ she replied, feeling herself slip further into space. She gasped, gripping WALL-E's hand tighter, _Hurry up!_

 _We're trying but he's prepared this time!_ M-O screamed.

"AH!" EVE held onto her sweetheart's hand for dear life. Meanwhile, every other robot was struggling with the wheel, forcing it to turn, and AUTO was powerless against the overwhelming swarm of robots, all working together. EVE would've smiled at it if she wasn't so panicked.

Finally, EVE fell out of the wall onto the floor, indicating that they were back in the Earth's atmosphere.

 _NOW!_ she commanded McCrea.

Almost right away, the steel all over the ceiling grew hot enough to turn red. EVE hurried to the other robots and ushered them out, _Hurry! Get out! Everyone!_ _ **Get out now!**_ she hurried everyone out of the cabin to the elevator, and as soon as everyone was on, she slammed the button to bring them down.

Once on the Lido Deck, everyone got a front row seat to the entire captain's area bursting into flames, taking AUTO out with it.

 _"Warning. All systems are faulty."_

"WE'RE GONNA CRAAASH!" McCrea screamed.

EVE felt the color drain from her face, _What have I done!?_

 _EVE! Get everyone together!_ M-O exclaimed, hurrying to another wing of the Axiom.

 _Where are you going!?_

 _I'm gonna stop this ship from crashing!_

 _What!? No!_ EVE grabbed M-O by his blue backpack, _You're not going all by yourself! I won't let you!_

M-O squirmed away, turning to face her, _I know how to land the Axiom safely without the steering wheel!_

 _What!? How do you know that!?_

 _I saw the floor plans for the Axiom a couple weeks ago in the engineering wing! They show a switch to turn on emergency thrusters! It detects gravitational force and pushes against it as a fail safe!_

 _Where is it!?_

 _It was in the captain's cabin, but I can find and reactivate the wires in the wall!_

 _No! I'm going with you!_

 _You can't! The space is too small for you to fit!_

 _I'm not letting you go alone! L-T can go with you!_

 _How would that help!?_

 _I just don't want you to be alone!_

 _"Warning. Altitude is at two hundred feet to impact."_

 _Eve! I don't want to rely on everyone else anymore! I've never had a job by myself!_

 _This isn't an independence thing! this is a safety thing! Don't let your pride get in the way of your life!_

 _I don't want to put anyone else in danger! I want to go alone!_

 _No! You will not go alone! I forbid you to go alone!_

 _EVE! You're so stubborn! Just let me go!_

 _NO! I'm not going to lose you! You're not going to die!_

M-O was about to say something else, but then he stopped.

 _"Altitude is at fifty feet to impact."_

 _EVE...please..._ M-O looked at her very seriously, very sadly, _I know I'm asking for a great deal of trust...but I promise I'll be careful, ok?_

EVE couldn't help but frown at M-O echoing her own words. She closed her eyes at his next statement;

 _Cross my heart._

EVE smiled sadly, _Ok...fine, have it your way. Just, please stay safe!_

 _I will I will! See you later, ok?_ and with that, he was gone.

 _Please hurry._ she pleaded silently, _Please._


	18. Chapter 18

_Alright!_ EVE barked, _I want every flying robot to push against the ceiling! Right now!_ She then proceeded to jump to the ceiling and push with all her might. She was happy to see others following suit.

The Axiom was rolling though, so the ceiling was quickly becoming the wall. EVE hurried to push against whatever wall was upwards at that time, and the others were quick to join her.

WALL-E didn't know what to do about all of this. All the humans were locked in the safety airbags of their hoverchairs while they swirled around, but if the Axiom didn't slow down in time, they would end up flatter than a pancake! EVE was trying so hard to stop the ship, but it was clear that not just her, but every flying robot on the Axiom was doing all that they were capable of while the wheel-bound robots were stuck on the ground, unable to do anything about it. How could he help? Was there anything he could do to stop this?

He didn't move at first, (other than when he was thrown around by the tilting of the ship) so far away from the girl who had just found him again...until he realized what he needed to do.

Meanwhile, EVE's arms were beginning to shake violently. She was pushing against the ship with all her might, and everyone else was too, but she felt like what she was doing was actually doing nothing! She wasn't surprised by that, considering how small she was compared to the size of the Axiom, but it managed to frustrate her anyway.

A loud beeping sound resonated throughout the giant room. The glass of the Lido Deck was breaking, splitting and scraping EVE's arms, getting in her eyes.

 _This is it. We're going to plummet to Earth and we're going to die._ _ **We're going to die.**_

There was so much noise in the room that EVE felt her ears would burst. She was feeling the terror destroy her system almost as much as the deadly turbulence. She couldn't even hear her system overheat warning. All she could do was try, even if it was pointless. She was expecting the ship to continue to crush her, breaking her even more than she already was, cutting her and slicing her with all that broken glass and for the ship to crash and explode and destroy everything and everyone...

"Eve!"

 _Was that my voice!?_ EVE turned to the side.

"Hello!"

It was another EVE Probe! In fact, there were four others there, pushing the ship up around her! _With_ her! They were helping her!

"How's it going, Probe One?" EVE #2 asked.

"Let's get this ship righted!" EVE #3 exclaimed.

"Come on! Everyone! Push!" EVE #4 commanded.

EVE saw around her, thousands of flying robots working to push the ship upward, working to soften the landing back on Earth. Meanwhile, M-O had found the activation switch for the fail safe and so the emergency thrusters had turned on and was helping all these thousands of robots keeping the ship from crashing in a flaming inferno.

 _Who turned them on?_ EVE thought to herself, turning to look over her shoulder. There he was. WALL-E. Smiling at her with all the admiration in the world. He must have woken them up.

She smiled back at him. Oh, how she loves him...

Finally, the ship suddenly stopped and everyone jerked upward for a moment, some smashing into the ceiling even more. The Axiom had landed on its side, and then, all the noise and chaos silenced.

Everyone's ears were ringing.

EVE hurried to WALL-E's side, still beaming brightly at him, "You woke them, huh?"

He gave a nod, still happy as can be, "Heeelllp!"

Something flew threw the air and landed on the wall-turned-floor, close to where WALL-E and EVE were.

EVE stared, slipping her hand into WALL-E's. The thing turned out to be AUTO, completely busted, broken, destroyed. He was still alive though, surprisingly.

She saw WALL-E try to approach him and quickly grabbed his shoulder, "Wall-E..." she shook her head.

WALL-E took her hand off his shoulder, "Loooook..."

She stopped.

WALL-E carefully approached AUTO.

"Stop! Get away from me!"

WALL-E wasn't deterred. He just kept going. And, the only reason EVE was letting him do that was because she knew that AUTO was in no position to do anything to hurt him.

"What are you doing?" AUTO cried, somewhat panicked, "Are you going to kill me?"

WALL-E stopped in front of him, shaking his head.

"Then...why...?"

EVE felt her eyes widen greatly, hearing shutters throughout the room, when she saw what he did next.

WALL-E hugged him.

This wheel that had caused WALL-E so much pain and suffering, hurting him in all kinds of ways...and he was showing compassion. He was showing complete and utter forgiveness, something that EVE could only hope to achieve.

Perfect mercy.

"What...?" AUTO was so confused by this, "Why are you...?"

WALL-E pulled away, smiling into AUTO's red camera, "Fffooorrrgiiivvve..."

AUTO was speechless. He was just bracing to die by Probe 1, but instead he was being forgiven.

It didn't compute.

"I...I...do not..." AUTO started, "...understand..."

WALL-E just completely forgave the one who had wronged him. EVE couldn't help but feel her make-shift lighter heart swell in sweet admiration. She couldn't help it. She was in love then, and even more so now that she had seen how gracious he was. She hovered towards him, giving WALL-E's shoulders a gentle squeeze. AUTO braced himself for her to shoot him.

EVE warmly smiled instead, giving a slight shake of the head, "Forgive..."

AUTO didn't speak.

Well, if EVE's one true love could forgive so freely, then she would too. Not just because she felt obligated, but because she wanted to express that kind of kindness. It warmed her heart to love, so she would love, just like WALL-E.

Just like her partner.

"W-why...?" AUTO finally said, "I do not understand..."

EVE giggled, "Repair ward." she gestured for the other EVE's to join her, then she pointed to AUTO, _Bring him to the repair ward. Make sure he's completely fixed up, got it?_

 _Are you sure?_ EVE #2 asked, _I saw how you stopped WALL-E from approaching him..._

 _Yeah..._ EVE #4 echoed, _Are you sure?_

EVE took WALL-E's hand, laying the other on her chest, _I am sure._

The other four EVE's smiled, surrounding AUTO and carefully lifting him. They carried him off, heading to the repair ward.

WALL-E tugged on EVE's hand, a bright smile on his eyes.

EVE in turn pointed to herself, then took WALL-E's hand in both of hers, "Proud..."

 _I am so proud of you, WALL-E..._


	19. Chapter 19

While AUTO was getting repaired, EVE took the time to get to know her sister probes. She had never even properly met them before, seeing as her first mission was the one where she met WALL-E. It was too bad her sisters didn't get a chance at life as she did.

Meanwhile, WALL-E was surrounded by EVEs. It was like he was in heaven. Well, he knew which EVE was his because she was covered in dents and scratches and dirt while the others were new and pristine. Still, they were all EVEs.

Well, he did learn that his EVE was actually the most strict of them all. The others had more leniency to their personalities than the first, especially #2.

"I'm impressed, WALL-E." EVE #3 told him, "She wouldn't have warmed up to just anyone, you know."

WALL-E tilted his head toward EVE.

EVE wrapped her arms around him proudly, "He's a sweetheart."

"Is he? Well, I did get that much just now..." EVE #4 said, "He was pretty excited when he brought us out of stasis, too."

"He's cute!" EVE #2 giggled.

"Hey." EVE glared at her, "WALL-E is mine, got it?"

They nodded, "He is..." EVE #3 said, "But whatever. We're all friends here."

WALL-E whistled to get EVE's attention, "Eve..." he said proudly.

Her eyes widened for a moment, then she shook her head, "Evah..."

He thought about this for a moment. EVE didn't want him calling her Eve. She had grown fond of being Evah, so it felt almost foreign for WALL-E to call her by her real name. He then nodded in agreement, "Evah..."

"Hey, everyone." EVE #5 entered the room, "AUTO is fixed."

WALL-E and EVE exchanged a glance, "Let's go."

* * *

AUTO was fiddling with his taser, amazed that he had it back. His base - which was once attached to the ceiling of the captain's cabin - was now fixed with an anti-gravity piece, the same used for the floating robots on the Axiom. All the humans were back on Earth, having abandoned the ship, and only a select few robots were still here. He was surprised to find that he was feeling something besides dedication to his directive. The one he had and followed for 695 years. He was feeling...

Light.

He felt like a heavy burden had been lifted, like he had been living under a rock before and now he was given the chance to fly. He had been bracing for death since he saw fire everywhere, engulfing him completely and searing all his internal circuitry. He was dying. He was dead. He had almost found himself accepting death, at least then he'd find a way to be content.

But it never came.

He was forgiven. Freely and unconditionally. His sworn enemy who stole the plant and stopped the holo detector from closing. He hated that waste allocator, the one who went against the directive AUTO had spent almost his entire life trying to fulfill...

WALL-E...

He heard the door to the repair ward open behind him. He didn't turn around, but he decided it would be a good idea to put away his taser. He wouldn't want to provoke them after being forgiven, after all.

"AUTO..." EVE began, "How are you?"

He didn't answer right away, just kind of in calculative silence, "Fine."

"That's good..." she could tell that AUTO was lost in thought. She pushed WALL-E forward, "Wall-E?"

He nodded, wheeling closer to AUTO.

AUTO turned to face him and EVE held out her hand, "Now, Auto...don't betray his trust...or else..." she then tapped her right wrist, eyes narrowed.

He turned his attention to the little cube-shaped robot, "Wall-E..."

WALL-E tapped his knuckles together, "Frrriiieeennnd?"

AUTO leaned forward, somewhat in defeat.

Other robots began to flood the room, the rogues and the EVEs as well as M-O and the captain, who was out of his hoverchair by now. Some were surprised that EVE could be so calm when WALL-E was so close to a now fully-functioning AUTO (although, EVE was very afraid for him, she just didn't show it), while others were simply concerned for how not concerned WALL-E was. The silence continued a little longer before the wheel broke the silence;

"I am sorry..."

Robots around the room relaxed at that, EVE among them.

"I let my directive become my only priority. I let it blind me. It was all I cared about, and I would've done anything to keep it that way..." he averted his gaze, "...no matter who I hurt..."

WALL-E's optics dropped in a small frown.

"...I am a fool..." he continued, "...I went against protocol...I rejected the Captain's orders..." he paused to look at the others, watching him carefully before looking at WALL-E again, "...I...I almost...killed you..."

EVE was touched. Not only was AUTO not hurting anyone, but he was _apologizing_ for his misconduct! He couldn't really show expressions on his face, but his body language suggested that he was ashamed of what he did. It was clear that he didn't want to do what he did, but EVE knew that almost nothing could overcome a robot's directive.

Wait...why was his directive gone now?

EVE hovered over next to WALL-E, making AUTO flinch. She giggled.

"Auto...I have a question..." she took WALL-E's hand and squeezed it, "What made you change your mind?"

He seemed a bit taken aback by the question, "What?"

"Why is your directive irrelevant to you now?"

Hushed silence was what followed that statement. Robots looked at robots, EVEs at other EVEs. That was a very good question. The repair ward had no equipment capable of changing a robot's software (which is why some robots would spend their entire lives there; The repair ward is for fixing robots, not reprogramming them) let alone their _core_ software, like a directive. Why was it that suddenly AUTO no longer cared about A113?

AUTO let his spokes droop, "I felt the connection to my directive dissipate as soon as Wall-E...hugged me..."

 _When WALL-E hugged him...?_

"It...felt..." AUTO searched his expansive database for the right word, "...nice..."

No one said anything for a time. EVE slowly reached for AUTO, her fingers out, until she touched his face. AUTO wasn't sure what this gesture meant, but he didn't shy away.

EVE looked into his eye, trying to discern something, all the while, keeping her other hand in WALL-E's.

"What?" AUTO asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what you're thinking..." EVE replied softly, "...because...I lost meaning in _my_ directive when you electrocuted Wall-E..."

AUTO was shocked.

EVE took a deep simulated breath, "I love Wall-E. I've been deeply in love with him for a long time, 6 months 2 weeks and 12 hours exactly, if I'm not mistaken. I cared about my directive at first, and only my directive. But...Wall-E stole my heart." EVE rubbed the back of her head, "I uh, guess he was just getting back at me for stealing his..."

Some chuckles went throughout the room.

"But...he just..." EVE closed her eyes. How to explain...? "He...he makes me feel..." one hand went to her lighter heart, "...warm...inside...but, not until I saw my security camera footage of him taking care of me while I was in stasis..."

WALL-E jumped in surprise.

"Yeah, I saw that you big teddy bear!" she gave him a quick nuzzle as more chuckles rang out in the room, "I think I get it now."

"Whaddaya get, Eve?" McCrea asked.

"I understand why this happens. Why we put others above our programmed directives. It happened to me, it happened to M-O, and now it's even affected AUTO." EVE laced her fingers between WALL-E's and held them up for the others to see, "This."

"Ah..." McCrea said while the robots beeped in acknowledgement.

"What?" AUTO asked, still not getting it.

EVE flashed him a smile, "This is how me and Wall-E say, 'I love you'."

AUTO watched a little longer, "Ah."

"Come on, Wall-E." EVE picked him up, "I want to go home."

"Yeah, you guys go relax!" McCrea offered, "You've earned it!"

"Thank you!" EVE called, already half-way down the hall.

She snuggled WALL-E on the way home. _Finally, some peace and quiet._

 _And alone time with WALL-E._


	20. Epilogue

EVE hovered through the Axiom, holding WALL-E in both arms. She was doing a bit of target practice that morning and one of the pieces of flying debris hit WALL-E in the eye. It wasn't so bad at first, since WALL-E's eyes are replaceable, but the problem came when they realized that none of the replacement parts were working, despite them being in perfect functioning order, so EVE hypothesized that some of WALL-E's hardware was damaged. She concluded that they should visit the repair ward to see if they could get him fixed. Meanwhile, he would have to deal with being blind in one eye for awhile.

EVE shifted him to one arm so she could knock on the door of the repair ward, letting herself in when the door opened. She set WALL-E down by the console and typed a few buttons. It beeped.

"Huh?" she tried again, but it wasn't working. She took both hands off WALL-E to fiddle with the computer. Still, it was refusing.

UNIDENTIFIED it flashed at her.

"Ugh..." EVE huffed in annoyance.

"Evah?"

She grabbed him again and steered him away, a new destination in mind. A few corridors later, and she was at the doors of the diagnostics lab.

WALL-E shivered fearfully. He had bad memories of this place.

EVE headed inside, setting him down on the scanning table.

"No!" he tried to jump down.

"Wall-E!" EVE grabbed him firmly, "Safe!"

He was still reluctant.

"Hey..." she took his eyes in her hands, looking into his one functioning optic, "Safe..."

He considered this, "Sssaaafffe?"

"Yes..." EVE clinked her screen against his, "Safe..." she then hurried to the computer console and typed a few commands.

 _Confirm diagnosis._ EVE beeped to it. WALL-E curiously watched the beam as it swept over him, meanwhile the computer was spitting out diagnostics. It showed a diagram of WALL-E with his broken optic highlighted in red. Most definitely, part of WALL-E's brain that processed sight was damaged, but it was repairable. EVE then uploaded the diagnosis to the repair ward.

"Evah?"

"Almost." she pressed a finger to her screen before picking him up and carrying him back to the repair ward.

WALL-E was very uncomfortable with the robotic arms inside his inner optic, but he tried to be brave, seeing as EVE was there the whole time.

Finally, once the machine was finished, EVE replaced WALL-E's eye, "There..." WALL-E buzzed, making her giggle.

She was going to head home with him, but she was curious about something, so she sent him home with the rogues. They would have fun without her for awhile. She went back to the diagnostics lab and looked again at the scan of WALL-E. What she was curious about was how much the scan picked up about him.

One thing in particular caught her eye; a scan of his software. On the surface, it was just a directive, (the foundation of any robot) cube garbage. Although, that had been overridden by her, which made her smile. It had a bunch of memories too, a lot of which were just filled with herself. One of them though was buried beneath a barrage of memories of her. It was dark, and recent.

Maybe she should've left well enough alone, but her curiosity was overpowering, so she opened the file, allowing the computer to unzip it and put it in a viewable state. She clicked on it and let it play...

* * *

 _EVE's communication link had cut out. The last thing he knew was EVE had found M-O in the caves, she cried out, and then, static._

 _"Evah!?" panic shot up his throat, "EVAH!"_

 _"WALL-E! Calm down!" McCrea replied, "I'm sure she's fine. Just wait awhile! She's found the lost robot, so she should be back soon!"_

 _WALL-E let his head droop, slowly turning to leave._

 _"Hey! Where are you going?" McCrea said, "Wall-E!"_

 _He ignored him. He just didn't care anymore. He went home slow enough that the sun had moved across the sky by the time he got home._

EVE wanted to look away, but she found her eyes glued to the screen. Of course, this wasn't the full memory, she was only seeing through his eyes and ears. She wasn't feeling his emotions, she wasn't feeling any temperature or pressure...and yet, it didn't stop her from empathizing, almost perfectly, with her lover. She fast forward a bit...

 _WALL-E felt EVE's fingers slip from his, and he stopped, panicking, "Evah!?"_

 _He was swept away by something, hearing whispers and distant shouts. He shook violently, fearfully. What was happening!?_

 _He heard a voice right in his ear-chip, sounding chillingly familiar,_ Find me, or I will find _her._ "

 _These words burned into his mind. He knew that voice. The voice of the one who tried to kill him. He saw EVE in the distance as the whispers faded and so he hurried to her._

 _"Wall-E!" EVE wrapped her arms around him, leading him away from the darkness. She then held his arm with both hands, afraid she'd accidentally let go again._

What!? EVE fast-forward once more...all the way to another familiar memory...

 _"Evah!" he tugged her hand again, pointing in another direction._

 _EVE let one of her eyes press downward._

 _"Evah!" he kept trying to pull her away, so she did as she was told, following him a short ways away until they were alone._

 _WALL-E smiled, somewhat sadly, "Help?"_

 _"Hm?"_

 _He gently pulled her closer, letting her screen clank against his. He was afraid of the voice. He didn't want to find him, he didn't want to go anywhere near him. But..._

 _"Wall-E?"_

 _He didn't say anything else. He just stayed like that. His eyes were closed, he was still, and he looked peaceful. It somewhat worried EVE, just because he wasn't normally so quiet and still. It was almost...unnerving..._

 _"Wall-E...?" EVE pulled back a little bit, trying to read her sweetheart's expression. He stayed like this a moment longer, and then he turned around and left._

Hang on! _EVE wrapped her arms around him, "Wall-E..."_

 _He just held still, and stayed quiet. Again, no sudden moves._

 _He was terrified. He wanted to tell her what that voice had said, but he didn't want to put her in danger either. EVE shook her head in disbelief, hovering in front of WALL-E and holding his eyes to her face. She felt her eyes curve downward sadly. He was sad._

 _"Evah..." he clinked his head against hers._

 _"Sh..." EVE ran her thumb over the side of his eye. WALL-E sighed at the gentle touch._

 _"Wrong?" EVE asked, adding in Binary,_ What's wrong?

 _He gave a subtle shake of the head._

 _"Here..." EVE took WALL-E's hand, stroking it softly, "Eve...here..."_

 _WALL-E nodded, carefully wheeling past her down the corridor. He knew what he had to do. He would head for the captain's cabin, where AUTO was. He was afraid for himself, but he was even more afraid for EVE._

 _He loved her._

 _In the meantime, EVE had a new directive._

"No no no!" EVE exclaimed, horror-struck. If she had known that AUTO was blackmailing WALL-E there's no way she could've left him alone! So wait, what happened after that!? Unfortunately, that was the end of the memory, so that's when EVE had to fast forward to a more recent one. But the only memories after that were ones she already knew about.

EVE sat in intense silence just then. Her hand slowly lowered from the keyboard to the edge of the desk, resting there and relaxing. She suddenly tensed, beginning to shake with uncontrolled sobs.

 _Why wasn't I there..._ EVE asked herself, "WHY COULDN'T I SAVE YOU!?"

She unsheathed her weapon and began to take her rage out on the room around her.

WALL-E was always there for her. He never left her for anything. If she was in danger, he would drop everything to save her. He would slit his own throat for her. He would give his life, just so that she'd be safe and happy. He did so much for her, no matter what it caused him.

And what had she ever done for him?

EVE stopped when her cannon locked up, having used up too much energy too fast. The lab was now a smoking ruin, never to be used again until repairs could be made. She hid her face with her left hand.

 _What have I ever done for him..._

TO BE CONTINUED (someday)


End file.
